Chapter 250: The Clash of Kings and The Lethal Counter
The grand obsidian roundtable sat beneath the floating golden crystal, casting long, sharp shadows across the eight seats.
On the Aether side sat King Allister, Saintess Celestia, Headmistress Amelia, and Lynx Azarion.
Across from them sat Emperor Malakor and Headmaster Vane of Void, flanked by Empress Seraphina and Headmistress Freya of Heather, and King Oberon and Headmaster Alden of Beacon.
The air inside the room was so dense with compressed mana that an ordinary human’s lungs would have collapsed in seconds.
King Allister leaned his forearms onto the polished black stone table, his golden sigil gleaming brightly.
"Let us get straight to the point," Allister announced, his voice echoing through the silent hall. "Two weeks ago, the Supreme Blessed Academy Tournament concluded with Aether taking total victory. As the reigning champions, the Aether Empire holds the absolute right to restructure the competition format. We are officially abolishing the annual tournament structure."
King Oberon of Beacon stroked his long white beard, his sharp eyes narrowing. "Abolishing the annual cycle? And what do you propose to replace it with, Allister?"
"A four-year cycle," Amelia spoke up, her voice commanding, smooth, and laced with absolute authority.
She took a slow sip from a small porcelain water cup set before her. "Going forward, the tournament will take place once every four years. It aligns with standard academy graduation tracks, stops empires from rushing half-baked students onto the continental stage, and prevents cheap political desperation every twelve months."
"Four years?!" Headmaster Vane of Void slammed his thin, claw-like hand onto the table, his face twisting with rage.
"That is absurd! A four-year gap leaves our student development in absolute limbo! It is nothing more than a coward’s tactic designed to protect Aether’s current standing!"
"A coward’s tactic?" Lynx chimed in smoothly, resting his chin on his palm as he looked across the table at Vane. His tone was dripping with casual, unfiltered disdain.
"That’s rich coming from an academy headmaster whose top Year 4 seed needed illegal stat-multiplying rings just to survive five minutes in a ring with me. Maybe if you spent four years actually teaching your students how to fight instead of teaching them how to cheat, you wouldn’t be crying at this table."
"You little bastard!" Vane snarled, his shadowy mana flaring up. "You dare lecture me on academy ethics?!"
"I’m not lecturing you, old man," Lynx smirked, his silver-blue eyes flashing dangerously. "I’m stating facts. You lost. Badly. On live television across the entire continent. Take the four years to cry about it and train better."
"Enough!" Emperor Malakor cut in, his deep, bloody voice grinding like stone against stone.
He glared directly at King Allister and Amelia, ignoring Lynx for a fraction of a second before his dark purple eyes snapped back to the boy.
"A four-year cycle is a massive alteration to continental law," Malakor said coldly. "Void will not sign off on this decree so easily. In fact, we have conditions."
Amelia leaned back in her high-backed chair, her white eyes narrowing into deadly slits.
"Speak your conditions, Malakor. But do not assume we are begging for your approval."
Malakor’s red lips curved into a dark, sinister grin. He rested his heavy, black-gloved hands flat on the obsidian table.
"If Aether wishes to change the decree," Malakor declared, his voice filled with venomous confidence, "then your precious champion, Lynx Azarion, must prove that his strength is genuine and not the result of illegal, forbidden foreign magic. He must fight a personal duel against Headmaster Vane and my personal imperial weapon, Commander Joseph."
Silence slammed into the room like a physical blow.
Saintess Celestia’s golden eyes widened in shock. "What?! You are demanding an eighteen-year-old student to fight a Transcendent-rank Headmaster and an Eternal-rank Imperial Commander?!"
Empress Seraphina of Heather scoffed loudly, shaking her head in disbelief. "That is not a condition, Malakor! That is a blatant execution attempt! A student fighting a Headmaster of your Blessed Academy and an Eternal warrior?!"
Amelia stood up so fast her leather chair scraped violently against the floor. Her purple-black aura erupted, filling the entire room with crushing, storm-like pressure.
"Have you lost your mind, Malakor?" Amelia roared, her white eyes burning with murderous intent as she glared down at the Void Emperor.
"You want my student to fight an Eternal-rank commander and a Transcendent headmaster? You think I will sit here and let you orchestrate a dirty, political assassination right in front of me?"
She slammed her gloved hand onto the table, cracking the thick obsidian surface.
"We are the champions!" Amelia spat, her voice ringing with absolute, terrifying dominance.
"Aether Empire and the Aether Blessed Academy holds the trophy! We do not need your pathetic permission to set the four-year rule. If you refuse to sign, Void can forfeit all future tournament rights and leave this palace right now! Try me, Malakor! Try me and see if I don’t tear your Void delegation apart before you reach the spatial portal!"
King Oberon of Beacon stood up abruptly, his plate armor clanking loudly as he pointed a finger at Amelia. "Headmistress Veyrith! Control yourself! You are threatening an Emperor in a diplomatic council!"
Amelia whipped her white eyes toward King Oberon, her aura flaring even harder, pressing down on the Beacon King’s shoulders until his armor groaned under the weight.
"Shut your mouth, Oberon!" Amelia snarled, her voice dropping into a lethal, terrifying purr.
"Speak to me like that again, and I will freeze your entire Beacon delegation into solid blocks of ice before you can draw your sword! You can try to see if I’m bluffing!"
King Oberon froze, his face turning pale as he felt the raw, uninhibited killing intent radiating from the Tyrant Empress. He slowly sat back down, swallowing hard, unable to meet her pupil-less gaze.
The entire room was on the verge of total collapse. King Allister’s face was dark, his hand resting on the hilt of his golden sword, ready to back his sister if blood was drawn.
And right in the middle of this explosive, deadly chaos... Lynx Azarion started laughing.
It wasn’t a nervous laugh. It was a rich, deep, genuinely amused chuckle that cut through the crushing Eternal pressure like a hot knife through butter.
Everyone stopped. Amelia looked down at Lynx, her white eyes wide with surprise. Emperor Malakor frowned, staring at the boy as if he were insane.
Lynx slowly leaned forward, resting his elbows on the cracked obsidian table. He looked directly into Emperor Malakor’s furious face, his smile wide, bright, and full of sharp, predatory teeth.
"You know, Emperor Malakor," Lynx said smoothly, his voice carrying an icy, terrifying weight. "Before I left your Empire... you sent some weaklings to test or kill me, didn’t you?"
Emperor Malakor’s eyes twitched, a subtle flicker of dark tension passing through his jaw.
Lynx leaned in closer, his heterochromatic eyes sparkling with pure, unadulterated malice.
"I dealt with them," Lynx chuckled softly, his voice dropping into a intimate, dangerous whisper that bounced off the stone walls.
"They’re dead. Buried under six feet of dirt. And honestly, old man... you should be damn grateful I was in a good mood that day."
Malakor’s brow furrowed. "What are you talking about, boy?"
Lynx’s grin widened into something terrifyingly arrogant.
"You should be grateful," Lynx smirked, "that I didn’t want to touch your precious little daughter, fuck her until she forgot her own name, and leave her useless for the rest of her life."
BOOM!
The entire room exploded into absolute, chaotic shock.
Emperor Malakor’s face turned from pale to dark, violent purple. His eyes bloodshot, veins bulging along his neck as an apocalyptic, lethal wave of Eternal dark mana burst from his body, shattering the glass chandeliers high above!
"YOU INSOLENT, FOUL-MOUTHED LITTLE ANIMAL!" Malakor roared, his voice sounding like a dying star as he stood up, his heavy fist driving straight toward Lynx’s head with full killing intent! "I WILL TEAR YOUR SOUL INTO A THOUSAND PIECES!"
The sheer shockwave of Malakor’s unleashed aura slammed directly into Lynx’s chest.
CRACK!
The heavy obsidian chair beneath Lynx shattered into dust from the collateral pressure.
The force hit Lynx’s body hard, making him cough up a small spray of crimson blood that trickled down his chin.
His chest burned from the sudden, uninhibited Eternal assault.
"MALAKOR!" King Allister roared, drawing his golden sword halfway from its scabbard as a wave of light blasted forward to block Malakor’s fist.
At the exact same millisecond, Amelia moved like a phantom.
She crossed the table in a flash of shadow-mana, her black-gloved hand sweeping through the air to completely disperse Malakor’s stray killing shockwave, standing right in front of Lynx as a literal wall of absolute defense.
"Touch him again, and you die here today!" Amelia screamed, her white eyes glowing with blinding, apocalyptic power.
The entire sanctum shook. Foreign guards drew their weapons, Aether knights flooded the balconies, and the air crackled with imminent war.
Yet, right behind Amelia, sitting on the remnants of his shattered chair with blood dripping from his chin, Lynx simply wiped the crimson from his lip with the back of his hand.
He didn’t look scared. He looked like he was having the time of his life.
King Allister stood over the table, his golden eyes burning as he glared down at Lynx through the settling dust.
"Lynx!" King Allister demanded, his imperial voice shaking the room. "Is what you just said true?! Did Void send assassins after you, and did you eliminate them?!"
Lynx wiped the last drop of blood from his jaw, looking up at the King with an effortless, unbothered smirk. He nodded calmly.
"Yeah, Your Majesty. It’s true," Lynx replied smoothly. "Some professors, guards, a splitting Peak Blessed and his daughter, tried to jump me, Eleanor, Nadia, Layla, Rhea and Iris before coming back home two days ago. I turned them into fertilizer."
Silence fell over the room once more.
Emperor Malakor slowly pulled his fist back, his heaving chest rising and falling as he forced a dark, sinister, blood-curdling laugh from his throat.
"Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!" Malakor laughed, his bloody eyes locking onto Lynx with absolute, psychotic hatred. "Outstanding... Outstanding! A boy who kills my shadows and boasts about it to my face!"
Malakor wiped his own brow, his dark aura slowly receding, though his eyes remained fixed on Lynx like a predator eyeing its prey.
"I was merely testing your spirit, boy," Malakor lied smoothly, though everyone in the room knew he had just tried to murder Lynx on the spot.
"You passed the test. Now... answer my condition. Do you accept the duel against Headmaster Vane and Commander Kael?"
Amelia turned to Lynx, her face pale with worry and fury. "Lynx, no! You do not have to accept this dirty trap! I will shut this down right now."
"Relax, Headmistress Amelia," Lynx said softly, reaching out and gently touching her black-gloved wrist.
The simple, casual touch sent a sudden, electric shock through Amelia’s body, making her white eyes widen as her fierce aura flickered off for a second.
Lynx stood up to his full height, dusting off his dark uniform. He looked around the table at the shocked faces of Empress Seraphina, King Oberon, and the rival headmasters.
"I accept," Lynx declared smoothly.
Empress Seraphina gasped. "Boy, are you insane?. They are sending a Transcendent and an Eternal warrior to kill you."
"If Void Empire wants a show, I’ll give them a show," Lynx smiled, his heterochromatic eyes sparkling with cold, terrifying confidence.