Perspective: Kaiser Everhart
Date: March 15, 2012
Time: 7:38 PM
Location: Central Bay Festival Grounds, Capital
The screech in the night sky gave nobody time to think.
It was a tearing scream—the kind of sound an iron shell makes right before it levels a town square.
My left arm moved on pure instinct, hauling Elfie hard against my ribs and stepping forward to block her view. Her little hands instantly tangled into the back of my coat, clutching the fabric.
I looked straight up past the glowing lights of the Ferris wheel.
High above the clouds, a streak of purple fire was dropping like a falling star. It wasn't drifting. It was screaming straight down, aimed dead-center into the crowded plaza.
1,500 people. Cotton candy stands, carnival games, noble kids, families with children.
I have to do something:
1. Time to impact: barely 6 seconds.
2. Blast zone: at least 200 meters of flat rubble if that core held compressed siege powder.
3. Escape routes: 0. The seaside alleys were narrow chokepoints. Running would just cause a stampede before the bomb even touched the ground.
My plan was simple and suicidal: break my own bones, die in the process, cover her using myself, and pray Elfie survives under me. 💀
I have to gamble everything—
Then the bomb stopped.
It didn't blow up.
It didn't flash or kick up a shockwave.
It just locked in place 300 meters above our heads, frozen in midair like a fly stuck in glass.
Dead silence dropped over the whole fair.
I stared up, my eyes wide against the dark sky.
White frost crawled across the bomb's iron shell, freezing the metal in under 1 heartbeat.
Its speed dropped to 0.
Its heat vanished so fast I could see steam curling off the iron.
And looking closer with my mana sense, what she did up there was pure, insulting genius:
1st, a pocket of empty air sealed around the entire bomb. A total vacuum. Even if the powder blew, there was no air to carry the shockwave down to us.
2nd, a neat cage of clear mana crystals snapped shut around the glowing core. The wild purple magic fighting to burst was forced into a dead, flat hum, like slapping a muzzle on an angry dog.
3rd, every spark inside the fuse died. The electric charge just smoothed out into nothing, so no trigger could hit the powder.
And then, without a single bang, the iron shell and purple powder just fell apart into harmless grey ash, drifting away on the sea breeze like burnt paper.
My throat went dry.
Who just did that?
It almost feels impossible, using multiple elements to stop a siege bomb. 😐
From 3 steps to my left, a smooth, quiet voice murmured into the breeze:
"...Another one of my evenings ruined."
I looked over.
The tall blonde woman in the backless black dress stood with her hands resting lightly at her sides. Her golden hair drifted over bare shoulders. She wasn't breathing hard. She wasn't breaking a sweat. She looked like she had just paused to brush a piece of lint off her sleeve.
Thank God, now I don't have to kill myself in the process to HOPE that it saves her. 🤦♂️
Down on the street, reality caught up with the crowd.
A woman screamed. A kid dropped his candied apple. Within 2 seconds, everyone realized death had just missed them by an inch, and the crowd lost its mind.
People shoved. Boots scrambled. The front rows panicked and pushed backward.
A stampede.
In a space this packed, people would crush 50 children against the harbor rails before any enemy even showed up.
I need some sort of flare to distract and gather their attention.
Before I can react, the ground beneath our boots woke up.
Across the whole street, the grey cobblestones rose smoothly by 15 centimeters. They didn't trip a single foot. They curved upward into neat, rounded curbs, slicing the terrified crowd into 4 wide, separate walking lanes pointed straight toward the main harbor bridge.
At the exact same time, a cool breeze pushed against everyone's shoulders, gently nudging them away from narrow, dead-end alleys.
Then the woman spoke.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it sat right beside everyone's ear as if she were whispering from 1 foot away:
"Walk. Do not run. Move toward the bridge and keep yourselves alive."
Around the square, wherever a child or parent was cornered near a food stall, thin glass-like dome barriers snapped up around them, keeping them completely safe from the pushing crowd.
And under our boots, a faint silver mist of dust spread across the stones.
Simultaenously protecting everyone?!
Every heel that hit the street, every body that moved, sent a tiny ping through that dust straight back to her hands.
Who is she?
The whole street is whispering every single person's position into her head. 👀
"Get the boys in! Kill the nobles 1st!" a harsh snarl echoed from the dark seaside alleys.
The attackers realized their bomb had been deleted.
From between the festival tents, 14 huge shadows tore into the square.
Beastkin shock troops.
They were massive—easily over 2 meters tall, with corded muscles that stored physical force like compressed steel springs. Every heavy stomp charged up their stride, bouncing them forward with double the speed.
The lead tiger-kin crossed 25 meters in 0.5 seconds, his claws glowing with heavy shockwaves as he lunged straight for the woman's throat.
She didn't flinch.
She tilted her head by barely 2 inches.
The claws ripped empty air. The boom behind his fist blew a wooden pretzel cart into splinters 10 meters behind her, but her hair barely moved.
A 2nd beastkin, a grey wolf with jagged daggers, exploded out from the shadow of a streetlamp behind her blind spot.
She didn't turn around. She didn't look.
Her dust net had already caught his legs before they left the ground.
The cobblestone under the wolf's left foot tilted up by 1 knuckle.
A slick coat of ice stripped all the grip from his sole.
A small puff of air tapped his right hip.
The wolf's huge leap skewed 15 degrees off-course. He flew wildly past her shoulder, tumbling through the air like a dropped sack of grain.
Wait... I know her... The beyonder who Aisha taught us about in the classroom... Nadia. The only one who can use 15 elements...
As he sailed past, Nadia raised 1 hand and tapped his back with 2 fingers.
A sharp burst of air slammed into his ribs, launching him across the square and dumping him headfirst into a booth full of giant stuffed teddy bears.
I stared at the teddy bear booth, then back at her.
I would've had to roll, parry with a sword, take the recoil in my shoulder, and fight for my life.
She tapped him like she was testing a melon at the market. 🙃
"Die, bitch!" a rough roar echoed from the roof of a tavern.
A demon with curved black horns and crimson skin lunged off the roof, swinging a massive jagged sword through the air.
A 10-meter wave of boiling red blood tore across the sky—the Bloodcleaver Arc. It burned with cursed scarlet heat, screaming with enough force to cut a warship in half.
Nadia looked up at it like she was checking the weather.
1st, water magic reached out and pulled the blood straight out of the cut.
2nd, crystal magic chimed, cracking the spell's flow.
3rd, a tiny patch of vacuum snapped the pressure inside the arc.
The terrifying 10-meter blood blade collapsed in midair, splashing onto the cobblestones as a puddle of warm red water.
Oh shit now maybe we're finally cooked?!
The demon froze on the roof, staring down at his empty sword with his jaw hanging open.
Nadia tilted her head at the puddle.
"Interesting," she said softly. "The blood holds the mana together nicely, but you rely too much on prayers to keep the shape."
She sounded completely sincere. Like a tutor pointing out a typo in a child's notebook.
"Burn the street!" another voice shouted from a nearby chimney.
A Dragonic sorcerer with red scales along his jaw puffed his chest out like a bellows. Glowing runes lit up orange across his throat, and he opened his fanged mouth wide:
A roaring column of white-hot dragon fire—the Wyrm-Fire Torrent—shot downward, aiming to melt the whole avenue into glass.
Now we're in serious trouble. 💀
Nadia held up her right index finger and traced a 2-foot line in the air.
Along that tiny strip of space, she altered the air: people could still breathe normally, but any flame simply lost the fuel it needed to burn.
The roaring dragon fire slammed into that invisible line—and vanished.
No smoke. No steam. No boom.
The fire just ceased to exist the instant it touched the line, like flipping an off-switch on a lamp.
The Dragonic sorcerer choked on his own heat, coughing violently on the roof tiles as black smoke puffed out of his snout.
Wait... Could she...
Most mages spend 10 years learning how to build a thicker shield.
She just looks at the fire and revokes its right to exist. 😐
A towering Beastkin captain dropped from the top of an iron streetlamp, landing with a heavy thud that cracked the stone. His arms were as thick as tree trunks, wrapped in glowing blue force.
Nadia glanced at him, then glanced down at her black heels.
Apparently, muddy cobblestones were bad for nice shoes.
Instead of running or throwing up a shield, 6 flat cobblestones pulled themselves out of the pavement and hovered in midair, making an ascending staircase.
Nadia stepped onto the 1st stone. Then the 2nd. Then the 3rd.
She walked straight up into the sky like she was strolling up the grand staircase of an opera house.
And behind her heels, each floating stone dropped gently back down, clicking right into its original slot without a single crack.
She's in the middle of a terrorist raid, and she won't even scuff the city's pavement. 🤦♂️
The Beastkin captain roared and leaped 10 meters into the air after her, swinging a fist heavy enough to crack a castle wall.
Nadia didn't dodge.
She tightened her right fist.
Blue sparks snapped across her knuckles. White flame blazed over the sparks, held into a tight, glowing glove by a pull of magnetic force.
She punched downward straight into his strike.
CRACK.
A ring of white pressure burst in the air.
The Beastkin captain's arm snapped back, and his 130-kg body shot down toward the street like a dropped rock.
Before he could hit the crowd or smash a building:
A cushion of air caught his back, killing his fall.
The cobblestones beneath him parted like soft clay.
He dropped neatly into a 2-meter trench, and the stones slid back together over his wrists and ankles, locking him into a clean stone trap.
I pinched the bridge of my nose with my free hand.
She even cleaned up after herself. She didn't just knock him out, she tucked him into bed... AHAHAH! 💀
Up in the air, 15 meters above the street, Nadia paused.
The surviving ground troops were backing away in raw dread. She looked around, her sapphire eyes landing on a wooden planter box hanging from the railing of a 2nd-floor tea shop.
A single green ivy vine sat in the dirt.
Nadia pointed 1 finger at the planter and poured in 4 simple things: fresh water, rich soil nutrients, warm sunlight mana, and a tiny growth charm.
A completely ordinary gardener's spell.
The ivy vine shuddered—and erupted.
Thick emerald stalks braided together, swelling into a giant green beanstalk as thick as an ancient oak tree. It climbed 40 meters into the night sky in under 3 seconds, unfolding huge, velvety green leaves as wide as dinner tables.
Nadia took 2 light steps onto the highest leaf.
And then, she sat down.
She crossed her long legs, rested 1 elbow on her knee, and leaned her cheek against her palm, letting the giant leaf sway gently in the harbor wind.
Behind my back, Elfie poked her head out from behind my shoulder. Her blue eyes were as wide as saucers.
She tugged my coat twice.
"...Kai?"
"Yeah?"
"She's... she's sitting on a giant leaf."
"I see that."
"Why is she sitting on a plant?"
I let out a slow, deadpan breath.
"Because walking is for peasants, and flying is too cliché." 🌱🙄
From 40 meters up in the sky, Nadia's smooth, clear voice drifted down on the breeze, carrying a faint trace of amusement:
"I am bored of walking." She muttered that even I heard.
I went completely rigid.
Her ears work across 40 meters of ocean wind. Remind me never to mutter anything about her. 🤐
Down on the streets, the surviving Beastkin and Dragonics backed into the shadows, their weapons rattling in their hands. Their vanguard was dismantled, their siege bomb was gone, and their targets were already crossing the harbor bridges in neat rows.
They had lost completely.
And then, the temperature in the bay crashed.
The warm salt air turned freezing, biting into our skin like needles.
High above the harbor, the silver clouds around the full moon began to tear apart.
I looked up.
Those weren't storm clouds.
Those were wings.
Massive, leathery wings blotting out the silver moonlight 1 by 1.
1, 2, 3...
36 war-dragons, each measuring at least 30 meters from nose to tail, glided out of the broken cloud bank in a tight military V-formation.
On their backs rode armored Dragonic war-masters and heavy demon siege mortars—massive, glowing purple cannons bolted to dragon saddles, humming with calamity-tier siege mana.
Down by the docks, the Royal Knights drew their steel swords and froze in pure, gut-churning horror.
Civilians on the bridge shrieked, pointing trembling hands at the sky.
Nadia sat on her giant green leaf.
She slowly tilted her head upward, her deep sapphire eyes reflecting the dark silhouettes of 36 flying beasts crossing the face of the moon.
She sighed softly, shaking her head.
"...That's such a waste of time."
Lady, excessive was you sitting on a giant salad leaf in a backless evening dress. 💀
A synchronized, earth-shaking roar ripped from 36 draconic throats, shaking the very stones beneath my boots.
The sky turned into an open furnace.
Purple siege light blazed across the clouds as 36 dragon saddles spun up their artillery cannons. The high-pitched hum of charged siege mana vibrated so hard my teeth ached. If even 2 of those cannons fired downward, half the capital's harbor would be turned into molten glass.
Beside me, Elfie dug her forehead into my coat, shivering violently. I pulled her tighter against my side, keeping my hand over the back of her head.
Up in the night sky, Nadia stood up from her giant green leaf.
She didn't shout a battle cry. She didn't plant her feet in an epic stance. She simply brushed a speck of dust off her hip, looking up at the 36 roaring monsters indifferent to their scale.
As expected of her highness. 😐
She raised her right arm toward the full moon.
No incantation left her lips.
Behind her, the sky cracked with silent light.
1 giant circular ring of clear, shimmering mana formed in the air.
Then a 2nd.
Then a 3rd.
Within 2 heartbeats, 12 massive concentric rings spun to life across the night sky, each 1 rotating at a completely different speed.
I stared up, my mana sense humming so fast my vision blurred.
Those weren't standard magic circles. They were firing arrays:
1. Crystal formed the solid outer frame.
2. Light mapped the coordinates of every dragon in the sky.
3. Air read the wind speed and humidity.
4. Dust tracked their wing flaps in real time.
5. Lightning provided the raw power.
6. Magnetism bent the firing lanes.
7. Vacuum formed hollow channels to eliminate drag.
She isn't guessing where they'll fly, my mind screamed. The rings are calculating their exact flight paths before the dragons even decide to turn.
The 12 rings fired.
There was no deafening boom. Only a clean, whistling hiss as dozens of glowing beams lanced into the night sky.
It wasn't a blind barrage of lasers. Every single beam was a custom-made counter:
A dragon with fire-immune scales took a high-pressure spear of compressed air straight through its wing joint.
A dragon wrapped in wind armor met a needle of crystal resonance that shattered its defensive shield on contact.
A heavy siege cannon mounted on an iron saddle took a magnetic pulse that ripped the bolts clean out of the mount, sending the purple cannon tumbling uselessly into the sky.
A dragon preparing to spit white-hot flame had its jaws snapped shut by an invisible vacuum clamp, choking on its own breath.
Nadia didn't blast them with overwhelming power.
She just dismantled their ability to stay airborne.
And then came the most absurd part of the entire fight.
The wounded dragons began to fall.
36 massive, 30-meter bodies—each weighing tons—dropping like stones out of the upper clouds, aimed straight down toward the capital.
If 1 of those corpses hit the street, it would crush an entire city block.
Nadia's eyes didn't even flicker with panic.
She brought her left hand down in a smooth, sweeping curve.
Massive updrafts of air caught the falling beasts in mid-flight, killing their downward speed.
Glowing halos of crystal snapped around their necks and wings, holding them steady in the air like toys caught in a net.
Out in the bay, the sea surged. Giant, smooth flumes of seawater rose 40 meters into the air, curving like polished slides.
Before a single dragon could touch a rooftop, Nadia redirected their momentum sideways.
1 by 1, the giant winged monsters shot horizontally across the beach, skimming safely over the empty sand and splashing into the deep waters of the open ocean.
Splash.
Splash.
Splash.
Dozens of massive water plumes erupted far out at sea.
Not 1 corpse hit the city.
Not 1 scale touched a civilian.
Not even a single roof tile was cracked.
Beside me, my jaw hung open so wide my jaw muscles clicked.
She literally wiped them all, I stared at the empty sky, completely stunned. She caught 36 falling houses and tossed them into the trash can so she wouldn't mess up the festival. 💀
"YOU ARROGANT WRETCH!" a furious, guttural roar shook the harbor docks.
Down by the shoreline, the water exploded.
The Demon Commander erupted from the surf alongside the surviving Dragonic Marshal. His black horns were cracked, his demonic armor was scratched, and his crimson eyes burned with psychotic hatred.
He drew a curved bone dagger and violently slashed both of his forearms, chanting in a deep, cursed tongue.
A sea of blood answered him.
A terrifying crimson tide surged out of the dark water, rising 20 meters into the air and turning the bay into a boiling sea of cursed scarlet mana. The air reeked of copper and burning sulfur.
Above the bloody tide, the crimson mana condensed into a colossal, jagged Blood Scythe that stretched 50 meters wide, glowing with enough apocalyptic heat to slice the entire harbor in half.
The Demon Commander pointed his bleeding fist toward Nadia, baring his fangs in a vicious snarl:
"Nadia Solaria! The 3rd Rank Beyonder of the Asura Empire! The World-Eater! You think you can humiliate the Blood Covenant?! You think your cute little academy spells can withstand a true calamity blood sacrifice?!"
Nadia descended slowly on her giant green leaf, stepping off when she reached the stone railing of the promenade.
Her black heels clicked lightly on the cobblestones.
She stood there, resting 1 hand casually on her hip, and looked at the roaring demon and his 50-meter scythe of boiling blood.
She raised her free hand to her mouth, covering a small, bored yawn.
"Calamity magic?" she said, her voice dripping with dry indifference. "For you? You're not even worth medium-tier spells."
The Demon Commander turned purple with rage.
"DIE!"
He brought his arms down.
The colossal Blood Scythe plunged forward, riding the boiling red tidal wave in a cataclysmic arc aimed to cleave the entire promenade into dust.
Nadia didn't flinch.
She lifted her right hand, bringing her thumb and middle finger together.
Around her fingertips, 7 tiny elemental spirals began to spin: air, vacuum, lightning, magnetism, plasma, crystal, and ice.
No screaming chant. No dramatic speeches.
She just flicked her fingers.
Snap.
A silent, transparent ripple pulsed outward from her hand.
When that ripple met the boiling crimson tsunami, nothing exploded.
There was no clash of power. No shockwave.
The massive Blood Scythe simply stopped being a scythe.
1st, the air stripped the pressure holding the wave upright.
2nd, the vacuum sucked the heat right out of the curse.
3rd, the crystal vibration shattered the spell's inner rhythm.
And then, her true authority—Macro-Elemental Dissolution—washed over the magic.
The 50-meter blade of cursed blood simply dissolved into thin, harmless pink mist. The boiling crimson sea broke apart into clean, cold ocean spray, splashing harmlessly against the stone pier like water from a tipped bucket.
The Demon Commander froze in the middle of his swing.
He stared at his empty, trembling claws, his eyes bugging out of his skull.
"W-What... what did you do?! My blood sacrifice! My covenant scythe!"
Nadia let her hand drop to her side, tilting her head.
"I removed the conditions that allowed your blood to hold mana. Basic physics. You should try reading a book sometime, uneducated demon."
"I'LL TEAR YOUR THROAT OUT!"
In a blind, rabid frenzy, the Demon Commander lunged across the pier, his razor claws aimed straight for her eyes.
Nadia didn't even shift her stance.
As he reached her, blue-white sparks wrapped around her right fist, blazing with a tight glove of electric flame.
She ducked under his wild swipe, caught him by the throat with 1 hand, and used his own charging momentum to spin on her heel.
With a single fluid twist, she hurled the 200-kg demon 50 meters straight back out into the open bay.
The Dragonic Marshal dove from the sky to intercept her, talons extended.
Nadia stepped onto a single floating cobblestone, pivoted beneath his chest, and slammed an open-palm air pulse into his chest. The Dragonic Marshal skipped across the surface of the water like a thrown stone, crashing right next to the demon.
Standing at the edge of the pier, Nadia pointed 1 slender index finger into the sea.
A closed net of blue lightning flashed beneath the dark water.
ZAP.
Both leaders twitched once and went limp, completely unconscious.
Then Nadia paused.
She leaned over the wooden pier railing, looking down into the water.
A school of small silver bay fish were floating belly-up, stunned by the electrical shock.
Her delicate brow furrowed. For the 1st time tonight, she looked genuinely bothered—far more annoyed by the floating dead fish than she had been by 36 war-dragons.
She swirled her fingertips in small circles:
A gentle current circulated through the bay, drawing fresh oxygen back into the surface water.
Within 3 seconds, the silver fish twitched their fins, righted themselves, and darted happily back down into the ocean depths.
Nadia dusted off her hands and nodded to herself, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"Much better."
I stood 20 paces away, still holding Elfie behind me, completely speechless.
She almost let a terrorist army attack her just to test their technique, but stunned fish get emergency medical care. 🤦♂️
Nadia turned back toward the festival grounds.
The entire seaside plaza was dead silent.
Thousands of eyes were glued to her back. Royal Knights had their swords drawn, frozen like statues on the bridge. Noble heirs had forgotten to breathe.
With a few light flicks of her fingers, Nadia cleaned up the street:
The raised cobblestone curbs sank back down, smoothing out into an unbroken road.
The bent iron streetlamps pulled themselves upright.
The crystal domes around the frightened mothers and children melted into harmless motes of sparkling light.
And the lingering smoke from the pretzel stand was gathered into a tight grey ball and snuffed out in midair.
Total civilian deaths: 0.
Total serious injuries: 0.
Elfie was practically vibrating beside me.
Her small hands were clutching my sleeve so hard she was straining the seams. Her wide blue eyes were shimmering with pure, unadulterated awe, looking at Nadia like she was a living fairy tale.
"Kai..." Elfie whispered, her voice shaking with excitement. "Was that... was that the calamity magic Miss Aisha told us about in class?!"
I shook my head slowly, letting out a breath I felt like I'd been holding for 10 minutes.
"No," I told her quietly. "That's the terrifying part. Almost everything she just used was low to medium tier magic."
Elfie turned her head toward me, blinking in utter disbelief.
"Low tier?! But... low tier spells are what beginners use to hunt forest goblins and light campfires!"
"Exactly," I replied, watching Nadia shake a stray drop of water off her bare arm. "Ordinary sorcerers have to spam high-tier magic because their control is terrible. They need a massive blast of mana just to overpower an enemy's shield. But Nadia doesn't waste mana. Her understanding of the world is so deep that she can dismantle a siege army using the magical equivalent of spare change."
So, that's what Beyonder's talent means.
Down on the pier, Nadia began walking back toward us.
She glanced down at her backless black dress, noticing a smudge of dark soot along her left hip.
She sighed faintly.
"...I liked this dress."
Before I could stop her, Elfie let out a tiny gasp and pulled me by the hand, practically dragging me across the stone promenade straight toward the living Beyonder.
"Wait, Elfie—"
Elfie didn't wait. She stopped 3 paces in front of Nadia, her cheeks flushed bright pink, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Elfie burst out, her voice ringing clear across the quiet pier. "That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my whole life!"
Nadia stopped walking.
She blinked down at the little girl, her cool, bored mask slipping for a split second. A tiny spark of genuine surprise flickered in her sapphire eyes. She had clearly expected screams, worship, or terrifying reverence from the onlookers—not a 11 year old child bouncing with pure joy.
Elfie looked up at her with starry, shining eyes.
"Can I become like you someday? Can I become that strong?!"
Nadia stood quietly for a moment, looking at Elfie.
Her eyes drifted over Elfie's small frame, sensing the massive, slumbering ocean of celestial mana resting inside the girl's soul.
Nadia didn't give a cheesy, patronizing speech.
Instead, she slowly crouched down until her face was level with Elfie's. A soft, rare smile curved the corners of her lips.
"You certainly can become stronger than the version of me you saw tonight," Nadia said gently.
Elfie gasped, her eyes glowing. "Really?!"
"Mhm," Nadia murmured, raising a slender hand and tapping Elfie lightly on the forehead. "If you keep studying after people start calling you talented. Power stops being impressive very quickly, little girl. Control takes much longer."
Elfie beamed, her chest puffing up with absolute determination. "I will! I'll study every single day!"
Nadia gave her head a gentle pat, then rose smoothly back to her full height.
I stood there, holding Elfie's small hand in mine.
My mind was still spinning with the 12 concentric helices, the trajectories, the targeted counters, the flawless mathematical beauty of how she had stopped an army without shedding a single drop of civilian blood.
For the 1st time in my life, a question slipped past my defenses.
It wasn't calculated. It wasn't tactical. It was born from pure, raw yearning.
"Could I ever do that?" I asked quietly.
Nadia turned her gaze to me.
Her sapphire eyes studied me in silence. I could feel an invisible, chilling pulse sweep through my chest—not painful, but invasive, reading the tight, narrow mana channels in my body, measuring the pathetic trickle of my core, and mapping my biological limits with ruthless accuracy.
She paused for 2 seconds.
Then, with zero cruelty and zero hesitation, she spoke:
"No."
The word hit like a cold lead weight in my stomach.
"None?" I pressed, my voice barely above a whisper.
Nadia looked straight into my eyes, her tone steady and honest:
"You don't have any magical talent. Not enough to ever become what people mean when they say sorcerer."
She paused, then added quietly:
"I could lie to you and say that effort solves everything. It doesn't. Some ranks require talent that you were simply never born with."
I let out a faint, hollow laugh, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Yeah. I figured."
Always been the authentic fool.
Beneath all my theories and calculations, a stupid part of me had still hoped.
Beside me, Elfie's face instantly twisted in outrage.
She dropped my coat, stepped out in front of me, and glared up at the world's strongest mage like a tiny, furious kitten defending its territory.
"Why not him?!" Elfie demanded, her voice trembling with indignant anger. "Kai is the smartest person in the whole world! He understands magic better than anyone in our academy! He knows things the professors can't even explain!"
Nadia looked down at Elfie, then shifted her gaze back to me.
She noticed how Elfie's hands were wrapped fiercely around my fingers, and how my body had already shifted half a step forward to keep Elfie shielded, even while my own ego was in pieces.
A flicker of respect passed through Nadia's deep blue eyes.
"Understanding magic and generating it are 2 completely different things, little girl," Nadia said softly.
Then she looked directly into my eyes, her voice dropping to a quiet, meaningful hum:
"That doesn't make understanding worthless."
My chest tightened, but I kept my face carefully blank.
From down the boulevard, the shrill whistle of emergency sirens and the synchronized stomping of heavily armored Royal Knights echoed through the night. The kingdom's authorities were finally arriving—long after the battle had already been won.
Nadia smoothed the fabric of her black dress, turning her gaze toward the approaching sirens with visible exhaustion.
"It's late," she said, glancing back at us. "Go home, both of you."
Elfie pouted slightly. "But—"
"Home," Nadia repeated firmly, though her tone remained gentle. She tilted her chin toward me. "And next time, don't stand in the way of danger."
I looked at her deadpan.
"We'll do our best..."
A faint, dry smirk touched Nadia's lips over her bare shoulder as she turned toward the arriving knights.
"Good," she said, then added softly, "Take care."
Without another word, she walked casually toward the arriving knights, leaving Elfie and me standing under the glow of the festival lanterns.
---
We walked away in silence.
The festival music was gone, swallowed by the distant wail of harbor sirens and the clatter of armored boots. The streetlamps flickered along the stone lane, casting our long shadows against the damp pavement.
Elfie held my hand tightly with both of hers, swinging our arms just a fraction.
I looked down at my free right hand.
My fingers were pale, bare, and empty.
No mana...
There it was, I looked down at my palm. The truth from the strongest mage in the empire.
Always been the fool.
I tried to laugh under my breath, searching for some stupid, self-deprecating nickname to brush the sting away.
The world's greatest theoretical genius. The king of useless knowledge.
The joke fell flat in my throat.
Because beneath the sarcasm, beneath all the calculations and honesty...
It was a quiet, suffocating ache I had carried since I left the Decaying Foundation.
In a world obsessed with bloodlines, divine gifts, and magical souls, I had been born hollow. A defect. An unwanted mistake. My biological parents hadn't just neglected me—they had looked at me with disgust, and treated my very breath like a humiliation, until they finally tried to drown out the shame by trying to kill me in the womb.
I had been forced to survive in the dirt before I was even 5 years old.
Nobody ever notices the kid in the corner. You become an accessory in other people's lives—only called on when something breaks, only acknowledged when someone needs a mess cleaned up, and shoved back into the dark the instant the job is done.
I had spent my entire life watching from the outside. Watching families happy. Watching people scream, fight, and walk away, leaving behind a house made of shattered glass. And like an invisible fool, I was always the one left behind on my knees, picking up the razor-sharp shards with bare hands, trying to glue the pieces back together while the glass sliced my palms to ribbons.
And when the floor was finally clean, they would come back, look at the tidy room, and never once notice the blood dripping from my fingers.
If I spoke up, I was an arrogant brat. If I kept quiet, I was cold and broken.
So I stopped speaking. I learned to live without attention. I learned that in this world, if you don't have magic, you're just a talentless cockroach.
A parasite.
A creature that survives by living off the gifts of others—using someone else's gifts, borrowing someone else's hardwork, steering other people like chess pieces to do the things my own broken body could never accomplish.
Tonight, standing 3 feet from Nadia Solaria, I had witnessed what true magic looked like. It wasn't just power. It was breathtaking, absolute perfection. For 1 single, foolish second, I had let myself want it.
I had asked if a cockroach could ever touch that sky.
And Nadia had given me the truth:
"No."
"You don't have the talent."
A cold, heavy numbness settled deep behind my ribs.
Suddenly, Elfie stopped walking.
Her small boots planted firmly on the cobblestones right under the yellow glow of a streetlamp. She pulled my arm, forcing me to turn around.
Her wide blue eyes were staring straight up into my face.
She didn't ask what was wrong. She didn't offer empty pity. She just knew.
"Kai," she said softly.
"Hm?"
"I'll give you mine."
I blinked, looking down at her. "What?"
"My mana," Elfie stated, her small jaw setting in stubborn determination. "Take it."
Before I could pull away, she squeezed my fingers with both of her hands.
A warm, gentle pulse washed across my skin.
It felt like stepping into sunlight on a freezing winter morning. Pure, radiant celestial mana flowed smoothly from her palm, trickling through the dry, narrow pathways of my right arm.
Roughly 20 units of celestial mana...
It was a tiny amount—barely enough for a 1st-year student to light a candle.
Elfie looked up at me, her blue eyes bright and fierce.
"Do magic."
I let out a weak breath. "Elfie, that's not how—"
"Do magic, Kai." She stomped 1 little boot against the stone. "Right now. I know you're better than this. Better than everyone!"
I looked down at the stubborn girl, then turned my gaze upward.
High above the harbor, thick, dark grey clouds were still drifting over the bay, hiding the stars and blocking the moonlight.
A novice mage with 2500 units of mana would try to blast the clouds with a burst of wind. They would waste all units in 1 second, move a puff of fog by 2 inches, and exhaust themselves.
Brute force was stupid.
Clouds were just tiny water droplets suspended in moving air currents.
I didn't need to push millions of kilograms of moisture.
I only needed to cause some drama: a tiny pressure drop, a slight shift in temperature, a gentle condensation nudge, and the natural sea breeze that was already blowing off the water.
I raised my right index finger toward the dark sky.
I didn't cast a flashy spell.
I released 3 units of water mana to thin the local moisture, and 4 units of wind mana to carve a narrow pressure slot through the upper air.
Using silent incantation to avoid getting noticed.
Then I let the atmosphere do the heavy work.
The existing ocean wind caught the pressure slot and expanded it like a wedge.
High above our heads, the thick grey clouds began to pull apart.
Slowly at 1st, then rolling back in smooth, silver waves.
Within 5 seconds, a massive, clean circle opened directly above the street.
Brilliant, crystalline moonlight poured down through the gap, bathing the quiet road, the stone lamp, and Elfie's glowing face in cool silver light.
Elfie stared up at the open sky, her mouth forming a tiny 'o'.
Then, she began clapping her hands together, jumping up and down on the pavement.
"SEE?!" she squealed, grabbing my coat with both hands and beaming with triumphant joy. "SEE, KAI?! You're a mage too! You did that!"
I looked at the silver moon, then looked down at her, a faint smirk tugging at my mouth.
"Technically, that was your mana."
"You cast it!"
"Borrowed power," I pointed out dryly. "I'm just relying on someone else's mana."
"I am NOT someone else! I am your Elfie! It's still yours for the spell!" Elfie puffed her cheeks out, squeezing my fingers with every ounce of strength in her small hands. Her gaze was dead serious, burning with unwavering faith.
"Never doubt yourself, Kai. Never."
The heavy, suffocating weight that had been crushing my ribs began to loosen.
I reached out with my free hand and ruffled her soft hair, letting a small, genuine smile reach my eyes.
"Yes, princess."
I looked back up at the circular window carved into the clouds.
Maybe Nadia was right.
Maybe I'll never become what people mean when they say sorcerer.
I'll never have the raw power to shake the heavens, and I'll never hold 15 elements.
I glanced down at Elfie, who was happily swinging my arm again as we walked toward the dormitory gates.
Still felt pretty badass casting that spell though.
---
Perspective: Kaiser Everhart
Date: March 16, 2012
Time: 8:42 AM
Location: Asura Academy, Class C Classroom
The magical wonder of the night before vanished the moment we stepped onto academy grounds.
The morning air was crisp and cold, but the atmosphere inside the main hall felt suffocating.
As Elfie and I walked down the stone corridor toward Class C, she was still bouncing on her toes, talking about the blonde woman from the docks.
"Do you think she'd teach me if I asked her nicely?" Elfie asked, peeking up at me.
"Only if you ask politely instead of tackling her legs," I replied.
"I wasn't going to tackle her!"
"You considered it. I saw the look in your eyes."
Elfie looked away, whistling innocently. "...Maybe just a little hug."
I shook my head, pushing open the heavy wooden door to Class C.
The moment the door swung open, the hallway chatter died.
Something was fundamentally wrong.
Usually, at 8:45 AM, half the class was asleep on their desks, others were frantically copying homework, and the rest were arguing loudly.
Today, every single desk was occupied.
All 23 students were already seated.
And worse—they looked unnervingly relaxed.
Small clusters of students were whispering to each other, casting quick, darting glances toward the door. The moment my shadow crossed the threshold, 3 different conversations abruptly stopped.
Several students immediately looked down at their desks, refusing to meet my eyes.
Others looked relieved. Almost smug.
Lucia sat near the front row, her chin tilted up, looking at me with cool, detached satisfaction.
Beside her, a boy muttered under his breath:
"At least this should be quick."
Elfie's sharp ears caught the whisper.
Her eyes narrowed, and a spark of angry celestial mana flared around her knuckles.
Beneath the desk line, my left hand shot out and caught her small wrist, squeezing gently.
Not yet.
She looked at me, her blue eyes burning with questions.
I gave her the faintest shake of my head.
Trust me.
Elfie bit her lip, but she nodded and let the mana fade, taking her seat beside me.
I slid into my chair and slipped my hand into my coat pocket, pulling out my Dwarvian phone under the desk.
The screen lit up.
I checked the message I had sent at 6:30 AM:
`KAISER: Hey I might be expelled tmr, big problem but no problem. pls mastermind do smth tmr 😩`
Below it was the reply that had arrived 10 minutes ago:
`KAYLA: k`
nice reply i got btw.
I locked the screen and slid the phone back into my pocket.
At exactly 9:00 AM, the classroom door clicked open.
Our homeroom instructor, Aisha Olyvra, stepped inside.
Her pristine silver-blonde hair cascaded gracefully down her back, shimmering over formal emerald-green robes that rippled like liquid mana with every step. Her face wore her usual poised, melodic smile, but her gold-flecked elven eyes were completely still.
She walked smoothly to the blackboard, picked up a piece of white chalk, and wrote 2 words in elegant, flowing script:
REMOVAL EXAMINATION
She placed the chalk down without making a sound, turned around, and set a plain wooden ballot box directly on her podium.
Her melodic, bell-like voice filled the quiet room, sounding almost maternal:
"Good morning, everyone," she said softly, resting her slender hands over her robes. "As you know, yesterday marked the conclusion of the 1st-year 2nd Monthly evaluations. And, regrettably... Class C placed last among all 4 classes."
A collective flinch rippled through the desks.
"The academy does not tolerate failure without consequence," Aisha continued, her tone remaining gentle and smooth as silk. "Under standard institutional regulations, Class C is required to expel exactly 1 student today."
Even though rumors had circulated since dawn, hearing it officially confirmed with such calm, polite certainty sucked the remaining air out of the room.
Aisha lightly rested her fingertips against the edge of the wooden ballot box.
"Here are the rules of today's examination:
1. Every student in this classroom possesses exactly 1 vote. You may cast your vote for any student enrolled in Class C, with 1 exception: you cannot vote for yourself.
2. You are permitted to talk, negotiate, trade promises, form alliances, or persuade your peers. However, physical violence, coercive mana, and mental manipulation are strictly forbidden. Any violation will result in immediate termination.
3. The student who receives the highest tally of votes at the end of the session will be officially nominated for expulsion.
4. Before the expulsion is finalized, the nominated student is granted 1 defense window. If exactly 5 classmates stand up and publicly declare their defense of the nominated student, the nomination is voided. A new vote will immediately take place.
5. The time limit for this examination is exactly 1 hour.
6. If Class C fails to successfully expel 1 student before the 1-hour timer expires... the academy will randomly select and expel 3 students instead."
A low murmur of panic broke out across the back rows, but Aisha merely tilted her head, offering a soft, sympathetic smile that made the hairs on my neck stand up.
"The academy does not only evaluate who can cast superior spells," Aisha added, her eyes drifting slowly across the room, lingering for half a second on Elfie, then settling on me. "In real warfare, sorcerers must build coalitions, manage resources, and make ugly sacrifices under extreme pressure. Sometimes, survival is not about who is strongest. It is about deciding who the group is willing to lose."
She withdrew a delicate silver timepiece from her sleeve, placed it gently beside the ballot box, and stepped back.
"Your 1 hour begins now."
The classroom instantly erupted into motion.
Chairs scraped against the floor. Students rose to their feet, gathering in tight circles near the windows and back corners.
And beneath the initial tension, an ugly, sickening relief settled over the room.
They weren't terrified.
Because almost everyone in Class C believed the victim had already been chosen.
Me.
Kaiser Everhart.
The boy with zero magical talent.
The boy who held exactly 1 academic credit.
The strange, quiet kid who had been kicked out of Unit 1, carried an atrocious public record, and was viewed by everyone as useless dead weight.
To them, sacrificing me was painless. It required no difficult moral debate. It solved their problem in 5 minutes and protected their own futures.
Across the room, Kayla sat by the window, her arms crossed, staring out at the courtyard without looking in my direction once.
I looked around the classroom.
Beneath the desk, Elfie's fingers reached over, gripping my hand tightly.
My phone vibrated once in my pocket.
A single word on the screen:
`k relax i got this.`
I looked toward the ballot box at the front of the room.
Nadia's voice from last night echoed in the back of my mind:
"You don't have any magical talent. Not enough to ever become what people mean when they say sorcerer."
I leaned back in my chair, watching my classmates line up to cast their votes.
She was probably right.
I will never become what people mean when they say sorcerer.
A faint, dangerous smirk touched the corner of my lips.
Fortunately, life isn't only about magic. I've yet to lose in an anything goes situation.
This will be another one at that even if I hold back.