Chapter 18 – The Emblem Shatters
Right now, I was just trying to enjoy a normal day.
The academy grounds were warm with sunlight, the chatter of students bouncing off the stone walls and mixing with the rustle of the trees. Ciel had dragged me along to the training yard again, while Livia scolded him for not finishing his assignments first. I sat between them on the steps, balancing an apple in my hand. To everyone else, I looked like just another boy with crimson eyes and white hair, a commoner lucky enough to have gotten into this place.
Of course, that wasn't the truth.
"I swear, Fay, if you keep spacing out like that, people will think you don't have a brain," Ciel muttered, leaning against his staff with a smirk.
"I do have a brain," I replied, taking a bite of the apple. "It just happens to be busy creating a thousand possible spells at once."
Livia sighed, brushing her blonde hair behind her ear. "Don't tease him, Ciel. Fay's always like this." She looked at me then, her sharp blue eyes softening. "Still, you could at least pretend to be normal sometimes."
Normal.
I wanted that. That was why I came here, why I let the emblem hang around my neck, hiding the storms that churned inside me. My parents had given it to me years ago, knowing the world wasn't ready to see what I really was. Neither was I.
But even as I laughed with Ciel and Livia, a strange pressure pressed against the edge of my senses. It was faint, like whispers in the air, a ripple of intent crawling along the ground.
Sages.
Strong ones.
I frowned, setting the apple aside. My friends didn't notice. They kept bickering, Livia throwing a book at Ciel, Ciel pretending to die dramatically on the grass. It was almost enough to make me forget the way the air trembled. Almost.
The academy bells rang. Classes ended, students poured out into the courtyard, filling the air with noise. That was when I saw them—figures cloaked in grey, faces hidden, walking calmly through the gates as though they belonged here. To anyone else, they were visitors, scholars maybe. To me, their energy reeked of arrogance, the kind only sages carried.
Why are they here?
I stood slowly. My hand brushed the emblem at my chest, the silver metal cool under my fingers. It pulsed faintly, as if sensing my unease.
"Fay?" Livia tilted her head. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I lied. "Just… stay close, alright?"
We left the courtyard together, but the sages moved too. Their steps were silent, deliberate, weaving through the crowd until suddenly—
"Grab them."
The words were like a blade cutting through the noise.
In an instant, chaos erupted.
Hands surged out from the cloaks, glowing with runes, and slammed into the cobblestones. The ground cracked, barriers shot up, splitting the students from the teachers. Screams filled the courtyard as spells lit the air. The sages weren't here for knowledge. They were here to take something.
No. Not something.
Someone.
Ciel shouted, pushing me back as a burst of fire roared toward us. Livia raised a barrier, her magic trembling as the flames crashed against it. She wasn't strong enough. None of them were.
And then I saw it—one of the sages, tall and thin, his eyes gleaming behind the hood, lunging straight for them. My friends.
Something inside me snapped.
The emblem at my chest pulsed violently, then cracked. A fine line split down its surface.
"Stay away from them."
My voice was low, shaking, but the air itself quivered as I spoke. The sage hesitated for a moment. It was enough.
The crack spread. The emblem shattered, silver fragments scattering across the ground like stars falling from the sky.
The world froze.
Then it broke.
Dark clouds churned out of nowhere, rolling across the sky and blotting out the sun. Wind howled through the academy, tearing banners from their posts. The stone under my feet groaned, fissures spreading outward as crimson-white light erupted from my body.
Murderous aura flooded everything.
Students collapsed, clutching their chests, gasping for breath. Teachers staggered, their spells fizzling out as the sheer weight of my presence crushed them. Even the sages—those arrogant, untouchable sages—froze where they stood, their bodies trembling, their eyes wide with terror.
This was only 2%.
Just 2% of what I really was.
The aura wrapped around me like a storm of blades, cutting into the air itself. Yet where it touched Ciel and Livia, it softened, curling around them like a warm breeze. They stared at me, eyes wide, but they weren't afraid. Not of me.
The sages tried to move. One raised his hand, chanting a spell of binding. His voice broke before the words left his mouth. The aura slammed into him, and his body bent, knees hitting the ground.
Another tried to run. The ground cracked, swallowing his feet in an instant. My gaze pinned him in place, and he screamed, clawing at his legs as if the weight of my will alone was breaking his bones.
The leader of the group snarled, forcing himself upright. "What are you"
"Your end," I whispered.
The air split. A blade of pure energy, formless yet absolute, tore through the courtyard, carving the ground open like paper. The sage barely dodged, his cloak shredded, blood spraying across the stones. His eyes were wild now, no trace of arrogance left.
"Impossible," he gasped. "This power… no human—"
I stepped forward, each motion cracking the earth beneath me. "I never said I was human."
The sky thundered as if agreeing with me. Lightning split the clouds, illuminating the terror on every face.
But then—
A hand.
Small, trembling, but warm.
Livia's.
"Fay, stop." Her voice cut through the storm.
Ciel was there too, his staff shaking, his eyes not with fear but worry. "If you keep going, you'll destroy everything."
I froze, the storm raging inside me fighting to be unleashed, to burn the world for daring to touch them. But their faces—those were my anchors.
Slowly, I drew the aura back. The clouds resisted, lightning snarling, but I forced it down. My chest ached, my vision swam. The 2% clawed at me, begging to rise higher. To go to 20%. To end everything.
No.
If I did that, the world would shatter.
The sages collapsed, broken and trembling, unable to move. The students lay unconscious. The teachers knelt, drenched in sweat. Only Ciel and Livia stood close, holding onto me as though their touch alone could keep me from vanishing.
The emblem was gone. No more chains.
I smiled faintly at them. "Sorry. I… didn't want you to see this."
Then the strength left me.
The world tilted, my knees buckling. Darkness closed in as I fell forward, straight into their arms.
The last thing I heard was Livia's voice, panicked but firm. "We'll protect you now, Fay. No matter what you are."
And then everything went silent.
End of Chapter 19