Emerging from Sienna's tower, Kael found his path blocked. Elara Vance was waiting, her fiery pride a palpable shield of aggression, but her eyes betrayed the crushing subjugation from the duel. Her entourage, once loyal, now seemed apprehensive, sensing the shift in power.
"You think you can play games with the Scholar while ignoring your public commitments?" Elara challenged, but her mana felt uncertain. She was trying to rekindle her hatred, but the humiliating memory of her failed attack on his aura was too fresh.
"I was fulfilling a bargain, Elara. Something you wouldn't understand," Kael replied, holding the Affinity Amplifier Crystal casually in his hand. The new Core made him incapable of deference.
Elara's anger spiked into a jealous rage. "You think I'm a child? You think I can be dismissed after you made a mockery of my Force Serpent? I am the Vance heir! You will apologize, and you will choose me over that data witch!"
Kael stepped closer, closing the distance she desperately wanted to maintain but couldn't. His aura washed over her, and Elara's breath caught in her throat. The rush of pure, magnetic desire was immediate, overwhelming the last vestige of her pride.
"You challenged me because you hate me, but the duel exposed the truth, Elara," Kael murmured, his eyes locking onto hers. "You don't hate me. You want me to dominate you. You want to feel weak and consumed in a way your power never allowed."
The explicit truth shattered her last defenses. Her eyes glazed over, her fierce pride dissolving into raw, uncontrolled yearning. Her lips parted, and a deep, involuntary shiver ran through her body.
"Kael…" she breathed out, her hands trembling. She suddenly dropped her pride, kneeling before him, not in supplication, but in total, consuming surrender. She reached out, grasping the edge of his tunic, her head bowed in the ultimate gesture of submission. "I was wrong. I was arrogant. Take me, Kael. Force me to be yours. I will give you anything. Just don't look at that ice queen again."
The raw desperation was public, shattering the carefully constructed social order of the Arcana Institute. Her entourage recoiled, shocked by the total disintegration of their leader.
Kael smiled, recognizing his power over her was absolute. He didn't lift her. He simply stepped over her, leaving her kneeling in the hallway, completely broken and enthralled.
"Get up, Elara," he commanded, his voice carrying the full weight of his magnetic Core. "If you want my attention, you will earn it by being useful. Not by throwing tantrums."
He walked away, leaving the Institute's most powerful princess weeping in the hallway, her humiliation complete, and her obsession sealed.