"Your turn, Your Highness."
Matthius nodded. He stepped forward, facing the magic crystal to determine his element and magic power. His hand nervously touched the magic crystal gently while hoping a little for the result. He was afraid it would be the same. He was afraid of disappointing Niel, who made the magic tool this time while watching him.
"Please..." Matthius closed his eyes, drifting in the serenity of light that felt so warm. It felt like this was a longing embrace full of deep yearning from a mother to her child. Every stream of light flowing in represented tears of longing.
Sad. He felt the same thing. The light was feeling a deep sadness amidst its longing. Who exactly was it? Why so sorrowful, yet still able to deliver warmth? Matthius felt its embrace channeling various hidden feelings. He was drawn into it, into a white world that turned black, until a faint voice calling became clearer.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!!"
"YOUR HIGHNESS!!"
Matthius was startled. His eyes opened wide, seeing the crystal before him shining very brightly. He wanted to pull his hand away, but he couldn't! He was extremely panicked. Not only was he extremely panicked, but so were the two professors behind him. No one could get close to him. The light was truly blinding.
"A-am I going to die? What about Vivi? Will mother be sad later?" Matthius rambled in his heart.
"LET GO OF THE CRYSTAL, YOUR HIGHNESS!" Thorne shouted with a tone full of anxiety.
"I-I can't! This crystal is as if pulling something from me!"
"Do something, Big Brother!" Clara shook Thorne's body, who was thinking hard to handle this situation.
"All of you! Go, and call for Lord Niel!" Thorne asked several students to hurry toward Niel's room.
"I and Leanor will use barrier magic so that nothing unwanted happens." Haidan glanced at Leanor, whose face was cold as ice, but agreed to his sudden suggestion.
"I'm counting on you."
Meanwhile, two female students who ran to find Niel encountered his figure first, walking between the towering pillars of the corridor with Arneld. Seeing students running in the corridor made Niel approach with a short teleportation spell. Niel stared intently at the two students.
"Aren't you supposed to be taking the exam?"
"Th-that's right. B-but... it... ouch!" The first student winced when her friend hit her lightly.
"Forgive us. However, the situation there is really dire! You must follow us immediately." Said the other student, informed.
"What hap—"
—Tring!
"Lord grandfather, look over there!" Arneld pointed toward the place where the training arena was. "I feel something is wrong there." He said, seeing the reflection of strange light.
Niel followed Arneld's line of sight, then his face creased in shock. "Quick! We must hurry there!" He darted ahead first, leaving Arneld who followed from behind.
Then, at the training arena. The atmosphere grew more worrying. Matthius began to lose control of himself. His breath was ragged because he could not withstand the enormous power from within his body that was coming out aggressively. He was nearly at his limit. Collapsed on the ground with his knees bent, yet he could not release his hand from the crystal.
"Is there no way to approach him?" asked Clara, who was already overwhelmed after dozens of attempts to get close to Matthius. "Is the magic measuring tool this time still not finished?" she asked while glancing at Thorne, who was just as overwhelmed as she was beside her.
"Impossible! Lord Niel and His Majesty the King himself tested it repeatedly until it approached ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent perfection." Thorne replied.
"Then, how could this happen?" Clara's question truly silenced Thorne.
"Matthius!" Arneld cried out from the entrance far away. He and Niel quickly ran closer. "What happened here? How can my son be lying weakly?" The mode of a father who deeply loved his child activated.
"E-element of light...?" Unlike Arneld who was half dead with worry, Niel was instead left stunned until he couldn't form a proper sentence. "H-how can it be this pure?"
"What are you mumbling, Lord grandfather?" asked Arneld with a slightly raised tone due to anxiety.
"Trouble!" Instead of answering Arneld's question, Niel instead ran toward Matthius who had already collapsed. The joy at the birth of a pure light mana user was replaced by deep worry.
"L-lord ancestor..."
Matthius weakly reached his hand forward. His strength was truly drained completely by something he did not know. As if, that something needed him to stabilize its form. However, he could not. His consciousness began to be forcefully taken away, bringing him into a pitch-black realm. He could only hear Niel's faint shouting voice.
Whoosh...!
A burst of light exploded. Dust flew around, eroding everyone's line of sight. Their weak bodies were flung until they hit the hard concrete wall of the training arena area and lost consciousness. The magic barrier that Haidan and Leanor had set up shattered into pieces.
Then, when visibility returned to normal, a figure full of light was seen up ahead. His body was wrapped in a charming white cloth, on his head was mounted a very beautiful golden crown, and between his shoulders, a pair of white wings stretched beautifully. However, it could be seen that the figure had lost control of himself.
"Ma-Matthius!" Arneld and Niel shouted at the same time. Both their eyes widened perfectly seeing the figure full of majesty up ahead. They felt as if they were witnessing the birth of a god directly.
"Aghh!!" Matthius' scream as he clutched his head tightly echoed loudly.
"I have to save my son!" Arneld was about to run toward his son, but his hand was grabbed by Niel. "What do you want? Let go of my hand!" He snapped.
"Come to your senses! Can't you see the light surrounding your son? That is not ordinary light, but rather the light blades of judgment!" Niel, who had lived since the era of the war of the gods, knew very well about light mana. Although it looked beautiful, light was a legendary element that was terrifying if it lost control. "From just a few meters away your body could be destroyed without a trace."
Arneld's weak knees could no longer support his body weight. "Then... what do we do?" His voice sounded faint.
"I'm thinking about it right now too. If left alone, he won't only destroy the academy, but also this country."
They found it hard to find a solution for the problem that had the majesty of a god in front of them. Even Niel, who had the greatest light mana in history, now could not act, because greatness would lose to majesty that had no equal. However, someone who had been standing and observing all this time, smiled thinly. He had wanted to laugh earlier, but after remembering the contents of a book he had once read, his urge to laugh vanished.
"I've decided. For this one, I will help you."
Snap
The sound of a finger snap was heard, along with the disappearance of the flashes of light surrounding Matthius. Only Niel could hear the sound of the finger snap and the mysterious figure who vanished into the darkness. However, Niel prioritized Matthius, whose figure had already returned to the Matthius he knew.
"Matthius!" Niel, who had already caught Matthius' body when it nearly hit the ground earlier, patted his cheek gently. "Wake up. Try to say something." He began trying to use his healing magic on Matthius, who had lost all his body stamina.
"I-I... I'm... safe." Matthius smiled while looking at Niel with relief, then both his eyes closed tightly from exhaustion.
Arneld snatched Matthius' body from Niel. "Son, wake up! Open your eyes. It's father!" Seeing Matthius lying weakly in his lap made his world seem to crumble.
Niel patted Arneld's shoulder gently. "It's alright. Your son is only asleep because of exhaustion."
"Is that true?" Arneld wanted to make sure, and Niel nodded his head slowly, allowing him to breathe in relief. "Thank you, God." He hugged his prideful son's body tightly.
"Take him home. Then, if anything strange happens, contact me immediately. After he wakes up you can bring him before me. I will take the injured students to the infirmary." Niel instructed.
Arneld lifted his son's body carefully. "I'm relying on you regarding Matthius' condition." He immediately shot away with his teleportation magic after saying that to Niel.
Niel walked. Activating his flight magic on each student lying unconscious. However, seeing that there was one student who had already taken action toward the students, made him extremely shocked. "You... how can you be alright?" he asked, full of curiosity.
Louis. The student was Louis. He turned to face Niel after carefully laying down the student he was carrying. "What else should I be?" He asked back.
"What's your rank?"
Louis tapped his chin. "Don't know. The magic ball didn't show any color at all for me."
"Wh-what? Why—"
"—You can finish it by yourself, right? If so, I'll take my leave. There are still many books I have to read in the library." Louis turned, and he waved his hand while saying, "Thank you for building a place full of books like the library, Sir." His body then disappeared behind the wall.
"I will investigate about him later."