The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 332: Chapter 327 — Aftermath

For a seemingly long moment, silence was all that filled the battlefield. Then, slowly, the whiteness began to fade, revealing the aftermath.

Dust rolled across the battlefield in thick clouds, rising hundreds of meters into the morning sky and turning everything grey.

Below, the earth was gone.

A massive trench had been carved straight through the battlefield, so wide that the figures standing along its edges looked like tiny specks beside it. It stretched for kilometers, tearing through everything in its path before continuing towards the horizon.

And everywhere else... Nothing remained.

The southern fortress was gone. So were the eastern, western, and northern fortresses. Broken walls, shattered towers, chunks of stone, splintered wood, and twisted pieces of metal were scattered across kilometers of flattened earth.

Places where hundreds of cadets had fought only moments ago had simply vanished, leaving behind cracked ground and fields of rubble stretching as far as the eye could see.

At the very center of it all stood Zephyrion.

The small patch of earth beneath his feet was somehow still intact, ending only a few steps ahead of him where the enormous trench began. His Titan armor caught the morning light, its metal surface flashing brightly through the drifting dust.

From a distance, he looked almost insignificant.

One lone figure standing before a trench large enough to scar the earth, with a broken mountain looming behind it and an entire battlefield reduced to ruins around him.

And yet, he was the one who had done it.

Several kilometers away, the cadets slowly began pushing themselves back to their feet after being hurled away by the shockwave.

Kaiden, Nedra, Tobias, Fiona, Draven, Kaelith, Lucien, and even Malach and the western Prime, Rhaena, stared at the devastation before them, traces of fear slowly creeping into their expressions.

Tobias suddenly noticed Lumi gesturing towards her mouth, and only then realized his own had been hanging open the entire time.

He awkwardly cleared his throat and quickly shut it, but not a single person laughed or even spared him a glance. None of them could tear their eyes away from the battlefield, each seemingly caught on the exact same thought.

No cadet should possess this much power.

Just... what the fuck was the Lightning Prince?

Within the large office, several figures had unconsciously leaned forward in their seats, shock plain in their widened eyes.

And at the very center of it all, the source of the devastation merely took a step away from the trench. The Titan armor had already receded from his face, revealing no trace of triumph, excitement, or even satisfaction.

There was only that same blank, calm expression, as though he were taking a quiet stroll through a beautiful garden rather than standing in the middle of a battlefield he had just erased.

’Convergence, huh.’

It seemed all the time he’d spent developing the technique had turned out to be completely worth it. Still, its limitations were already quite apparent.

’It’s mentally taxing.’

The cognitive load that came with maintaining so many different properties in tandem was insane, even for him. A sharp headache was already beginning to throb behind his temples, but rather than immediately dismissing the technique, Zephyrion simply took the opportunity to gauge his limits.

’A little over a minute before it starts getting difficult. Two if I push it.’’ he quickly determined.

Releasing the Titan armor, Zephyrion suddenly felt something tremble against his palm. Lowering his gaze, he fixed the rod in his hand with a curious look.

’Hm?’

It was vibrating faintly, almost as though something had suddenly stirred it from its slumber, and the source of that reaction soon became apparent.

All across the devastated battlefield, the shreds, chunks, and strips of metal scattered among the rubble had begun to vibrate as well.

Zephyrion’s eyes immediately lit up.

’The calamity metal...’

His final attack had torn straight through Arcturus’ ultimate attack, scattering fragments of his calamity metal all across the battlefield, and now, the rod was reacting to them.

Zephyrion immediately drove the rod into the ground, the corners of his lips threatening to curl upward.

’Well, no one’s stopping you. Eat.’

The rod trembled.

Then, in the next moment, every fragment of metal within a kilometer came surging towards it.

...

”What was that you said again, Your Royal Suckerness? Something about it ending in an instant?”

Within the silence of the large room, Cassian’s brows visibly twitched.

Across from him, Garrick was staring at him with a grin so wide and smugness so blatant that there was absolutely no mistaking how much he had been waiting for this moment.

”I believe there was also something about Arcturus being a direct spawn,” Garaxe helpfully added, clearing his throat as the corners of his lips threatened to rise.

”Ah, yes! That’s right, that’s right!” Garrick immediately perked up, twisting his expression into an exaggerated imitation of Cassian. ”How did it go again? ’My Arcturus is of a different breed. Five properties! Five! Do you understand how amazing that is? Greatest genius in the empire! Your boy doesn’t stand a chance! None of you do! In fact, you should all be grateful just to breathe the same fucking air as him! If he farts, breathe deeply! That’s Ferravry’s blood you’re smelling! Appreciate it!’”

”Garrick...” Garaxe had already raised a hand over his mouth, his shoulders trembling despite his attempt to sound reasonable. ”Please, spare the man. There’s no need to pour oil on a burning wound.”

Even the corners of Kastor’s mouth were twitching, though he seemed to be making a considerably better effort at keeping himself composed.

Cassian, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at Garrick, the smile plastered across his face looking increasingly forced. ”Are you done?”

”Almost, almost,” Garrick said, waving him off before twisting his expression once again and gesturing dramatically towards Ingrid. ”Oh, beautiful lady, it seems blood really is thicker than water. Your faith in that boy is touching, truly, but my Arcturus was born from super-powered sperm! Super. Powered. Sperm! How the fuck is Zephyrion supposed to compete with that? Just accept it, he’s getting his ass kicked!’”

”Garrick...” Garaxe hurriedly kicked his brother beneath the table, shaking his head even as a chuckle escaped him. Cassian’s glare was rapidly becoming murderous, and at this rate, there was a very real chance Garrick might get attacked right then and there.

”Bwahahaha!” Garrick finally burst out laughing, completely unable to contain himself anymore. ”It’s not my fault! The bastard hyped his boy up so much it would be criminal not to say anything! And the worst part, the worst fucking part, is that the fight wasn’t even close! That little monster could’ve ended it whenever the hell he wanted!”

Garrick continued laughing for several more seconds before finally wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. Then, with a deeply satisfied grin, he glanced at Cassian, who sat there with such a deep scowl that he looked like a child whose favorite toy had just been taken away.

”Still, I suppose I should thank you.” Garrick leaned back comfortably. ”Without your boy, I wouldn’t have gotten to see that little monster get even a little serious. So I guess the super-powered sperm wasn’t completely useless after all.”

The words caused the expressions of the dynasty heads to gradually turn grimmer, because beneath all of Garrick’s mockery was one frightening fact none of them could ignore.

Arcturus was not weak.

He possessed the blood of the royal Eryndor family, the direct blood of Ferravry himself, and had awakened an incredible five properties. By every reasonable measure, all of that should have placed him among the greatest geniuses the empire had ever produced, even when compared across generations.

And yet, he had still lost... to Zephyrion.

”The spawn isn’t the problem here.” Severin finally broke the silence, his eyes remaining fixed on the devastation displayed before them, and more specifically, on the young man standing at its center. ”He is.”

”Agreed.” Torvak Kharadun calmly nodded, though the faint unease in his eyes betrayed just how seriously he regarded the matter.

”As irritating as it is to admit, that spawn should be the strongest cadet here,” Severin continued. ”Someone older defeating him, I can accept. Someone from his own generation?” His eyes narrowed slightly. ”That shouldn’t be happening.”

”And how exactly is that a problem?” Garrick was still grinning. ”It just means the little monster is an even bigger monster. Sounds like good news to me.”

”That is precisely the problem.” Severin glanced at him. ”He’s eighteen, Garrick. Eighteen. And he can already do this.”

The room gradually fell silent, everyone finally realizing what Severin was getting at.

At eighteen, Zephyrion was already this powerful. What would he become in ten years? Twenty?

The thought alone was enough to send each dynasty head into deep contemplation, even High General Rathen remaining unusually quiet. Then, almost one after another, their gazes shifted towards Kastor, suddenly carrying far more weight than before.

”As if one of you wasn’t troublesome enough,” Severin muttered, staring knowingly at him.

The implication was clear. The revelation of Zephyrion’s prowess had fundamentally changed how the dynasty heads perceived House Calderalth, not only as it stood now, but what it might become in the future.

Garrick immediately chuckled, clearly finding the entire situation amusing, while Garaxe’s expression had turned considerably more thoughtful. Kastor, however, seemed completely unbothered by the attention, his gaze never once leaving the screen.

As a strange silence settled over the room, a sudden movement drew everyone’s attention.

Ingrid had risen from her seat.