Fedora stared at the shattered remnants of the crystal ball, which were still emitting a faint, residual glow. For the first time, a genuine trace of intrigue flickered across his perennially frozen expression.
"Fascinating," he murmured softly. "Bortos, fetch the violet crystal ball."
Bortos gasped, but he immediately lowered his head in compliance. "Right away, Lord Fedora."
He marched toward the edge of the training grounds and unlocked an iron chest heavily reinforced with magic seals. From within, he carefully lifted a deep violet crystal ball—a legendary artifact reserved exclusively for anomaly-class evaluations. It was a rare device capable of measuring mana capacities far exceeding the five-thousand threshold.
Bortos returned and handed the artifact to Fedora with utmost caution. Fedora raised the violet sphere to chest level, his eyes locking onto Reika.
"Come," he commanded. "Do it again."
Reika gave a slow, deliberate nod. His palms trembled slightly as they made contact with the pristine surface of the violet crystal. Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, he unlocked the floodgates of his inner core, allowing the raw torrent of his mana to flow completely unhindered and uncontrolled.
The violet crystal ball vibrated violently.
A blinding purple radiance erupted from within, swirling at an drafting speed before coming to a sudden, absolute halt.
[ 7,000 ]
The numerical projection hovered clearly in the mid-air.
For several agonizing seconds, a dead silence descended upon the entire evaluation grounds.
"...."
"...."
Fedora exhaled a sharp, cold breath. "Unbelievable."
Bortos stared at the glowing numbers, his eyes threatens to pop out of their sockets. "A mana pool of that scale... it's impossible..."
Reika looked back and forth between his own hands and the crystal sphere, his face blank with utter disbelief. "Is... is that giant number really mine...?"
Fedora closed his eyes for a brief moment, his analytical mind racing.
(A mana capacity over five thousand... this is unprecedented. Even King Fedrel Zevienthe sits at four thousand. Wiz is at four thousand five hundred. This boy... must not be squandered.)
He snapped his eyes open, his voice carrying an unyielding weight. "Very well, Reika Argan. If you can land a single hit on me—or even manage to leave so much as a scratch—you will bypass all protocols and receive direct admission into the Heero Academy."
Reika jumped in surprise. "Eh? But shouldn't a mana capacity over two thousand five hundred just advance me to the next phase of the exam? Not grant me direct entry?"
A thin, razor-sharp smile played on Fedora's lips. "So, you prefer to take the ordinary exam?" He took half a step forward, his pressure expanding. "To decline my challenge means refusing a special, elite-tier slot."
Reika swallowed hard, his chest heaving under the sheer pressure. "It's—it's not that I'm declining," he stammered. "I just..."
He took one more deep breath, throwing his head back with newfound resolve. "Alright. I accept your challenge."
Fedora's smile widened with grim satisfaction. "Excellent. Now... strike me."
Reika instantly leaped backward, creating a wide distance between them. The temperature around him dropped instantly as he channeled his element.
"Ice Lance!"
Five massive lances of compacted ice materialized in the air, launching themselves toward Fedora with breakneck speed.
"Ice Wall."
A monolithic wall of dense ice manifested in a split second, absorbing the impact completely without leaving even a single hairline fracture on its surface.
"Is that the extent of your wrath?" Fedora asked coldly. "My turn."
The atmospheric pressure shifted, growing suffocatingly cold.
"The secret power of the soul," Fedora spoke, his voice quiet yet echoing across the entire arena like thunder. "A magic wielded only by a select few."
He opened his palm to the sky. "I call upon thee, Star of the Human Soul."
"STARS: BLUE!"
A celestial, glowing blue star manifested beside his shoulder, rotating slowly while radiating a terrifying, primordial pressure.
Reika's entire body shook violently. The breath caught in his throat.
(This... this is a Soul Star...) (So this is the true power of a genuine Heero...)
"Oi, Fedora!" Bortos bellowed from the sidelines. "Are you insane?! He's just a child!"
Fedora didn't even spare him a glance. "I never stated that I would hold back."
Despite his trembling limbs, Reika clenched his fists, a fierce, burning excitement overtaking his fear. "It's fine," he said, his voice shaking but brimming with raw spirit. "I... I'm actually thrilled that Lord Fedora is taking me seriously."
Fedora looked at him, his gaze softening into a faint smirk. "Your mindset grows exponentially... even if your physical body is still small."
"I'm already thirteen!" Reika protested instantly. "And... thank you for the compliment."
"Hmph." Fedora raised his hand toward the sky. "One Hundred Ice Swords."
A hundred crystalline swords manifested in the air above, their edges gleaming with lethal sharpness. "Construct. Attack."
The storm of blades plummeted simultaneously toward Reika like a falling avalanche.
Suddenly, the world ground to a halt.
Time itself froze into a standstill.
"Time Pause."
A black-haired man materialized out of thin air right beside Reika, casually grabbing the boy by his collar and pulling him out of harm's way within a fraction of a second.
"Wiz...?" Reika blinked, his consciousness barely processing the shift.
"Resume."
The flow of time snapped back into motion. The hundred ice swords slammed violently into the empty earth, obliterating the vacant ground where Reika had stood just a millisecond prior.
"Oh, come on, Fedora," Wiz sighed lazily, brushing a speck of dust off his shoulder. "He's just a young teenager. Don't be so serious."
"I was merely testing him," Fedora replied flatly, dispersing his magic.
"Utterly excessive," Wiz tutted, shaking his head. "You're making me waste my energy."
"Then what is your business here?" Fedora questioned. "Shouldn't you be out on a mission?"
"Ah, that mission was a breeze," Wiz answered dismissively. "Right now, my business is this boy."
Reika stared at him in absolute awe. "L-Lord Wiz..."
"Just call me Big Brother Wiz," he said, offering the boy a playful wink.
"Wooah...!"
"Enough," Fedora cut in, turning his back to them. He looked over his shoulder at Reika. "You are admitted to the Heero Academy. My subordinates will escort you to the dormitories."
Reika practically jumped out of his skin with joy. "Yes! Yes! Thank you, Lord Fedora! Thank you, Commander Bortos!"
Fedora watched the boy's ecstatic celebration for a long moment before walking away into the shadows.
(This boy... is going to shake the absolute foundations of this world.)