Chapter 201 – A New Target 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

<Ladies and gentlemen, we have our Winner.>

These words were heard, yet they were not heard at the same time. No one in the whole arena and Kingdom was truly paying attention to the voice.

Their minds were entranced, continuously replaying the image of Cassius entering the portal with the help of his friends.

The students of the Academy — and more importantly, some Palatines of higher years — felt something shake deep within them in a way they couldn’t explain.

Most of them had attained Palatine either through strength or manipulation. There was no third option.

And those were the methods the Academy loved and rewarded generously.

But in that instant, they had witnessed a completely new way to become a Palatine.

Not through strength. Not through manipulation.

But through something so laughable in this day and age that they didn’t even know what to make of it.

Cassius Desdemona had succeeded in making his own rivals willingly choose to crown him themselves, despite having every right to take advantage of his situation, become Palatine, and snatch all the glory for themselves.

But none of them did. And none of them even thought of it.

Some could call it the arrogance of a Chosen One, refusing to take something he didn’t earn.

But the version closest to the truth would be that it was simply because Cassius Desdemona’s performance had earned him their respect.

Not love, necessarily. Some of them still disliked him greatly.

But respect.

And those feelings were not exclusive to the Chosen Ones.

In the nobles’ room, Ulrich Stormblessed looked at the screen, still showing his own son lying on the ground, wounds all over his body, alone.

Then his mind replayed the scene of Cassius being aided by the other participants.

Every scene replayed itself in his mind. And each time, Ulrich asked himself: how was it possible?

Emrys was known to be easily loved and supported by everyone. He was handsome, talented and not inherently bad.

However, everything had begun to go wrong, and it had started with Anesthesia turning completely against Emrys.

’Since when? Anesthesia was always beside him no matter what. How did this happen?’

Ulrich clenched his jaw, trying to keep calm. He would have lashed out in anger at his son losing anywhere and at any time — but not here.

And truth be told, the Stormblessed Patriarch knew that Cassius Desdemona deserved his win.

That didn’t mean he was stronger than his son. Cassius clearly was not.

In fact, all of them knew Emrys was stronger.

But Cassius was not only ridiculously strong in battle, skilled at using his Skills, and good at making people love him. The young man was also worryingly resilient.

And that was not the only thing that surprised him.

’He was also adapting to every situation better than Emrys.’

When Cassius had lost his arm, the normal reaction would have been to freeze and lose control of his emotions, like Emrys.

At least for a young, sheltered man like him.

However, Cassius swiftly accepted the loss and adapted. He even went one step further and turned it to his advantage by making Emrys believe it was a disadvantage.

The Last Born was smarter than Emrys, despite being less talented and weaker.

Now Ulrich knew he had not been pushing his son hard enough. He had been lenient, believing there was no one in his generation who could match him.

But from that day, a new saying would become common throughout the Academy and Kingdom in the coming years:

That no one could beat Emrys Stormblessed one on one...with the sole exception of Cassius Desdemona.

At that, Ulrich closed his eyes, tightened his jaw further, and began turning the gears of his mind, thinking.

It was one thing to respect Cassius for his character. But that same character would become a problem for them in the future.

And so...

’I need to crush this little bastard. He is dangerous. And even more so...’

He turned his head and looked at Sefira, crying with tears of pride.

’...he is the Last Born of the Desdemona.’

But if Ulrich Stormblessed wished to see Cassius fall, Sophia Amaris wanted to see him rise even higher.

’Oh, my dear,’ Sophia’s eyes glazed over, an overwhelming excitement held within her, ’I am loving you more and more and more. You are better than I expected. Better than all of them!’

Sophia had always wanted a man like Cassius, ever since she was nothing but a commoner. Only such a man could acknowledge her ambition while they supported each other.

And so for a brief instant, she allowed herself to imagine an alternate reality where Cassius was her husband instead of Cole. And Sophia could see in her mind’s eye the two of them dominating the entire Kingdom.

For the first time since Isolde was born, Sophia Amaris felt a tinge of jealousy toward her own daughter.

Still...

’A husband is impossible. But my son...’ she licked her lips, ’...I will make you my son, my dear. I truly should have been your mother, Cassius. I love you now. Oh, I love you so much!’

Now, even more so, she wanted to destroy Cole and take over the Amaris bloodline. Her disgust for her husband grew the more she remembered that possible future.

For the first time, Sophia realised how low she had fallen by accepting Cole.

She sighed irritably, wishing nothing but to kill something to vent off her anger, and her eyes accidentally fell on Willow Wealth, who was smiling faintly.

’So he is the so-called Editor of my daughter?’ Willow mused. ’Not bad.’

If Meadow believed she could write without her knowing, then her daughter was a fool. And she would be an even greater fool if she thought Willow didn’t know the Company was only hers in name.

There was also another, curious secret.

But strangely, something was stopping her from learning more than she wished to.

Something akin to fate-like power.

And as she recalled the image of the goddess behind Cassius, Willow’s smile widened.

’How interesting. What kind of man have you found yourself attached to, Meadow? And also...’

Her attention turned to Omm standing beside her daughter. Her eyes glowed with essence, and she noticed a calm golden aura perpetually covering Omm from all sides.

’...who is this young man? And...’ she looked at the golden necklace around her own neck, ’...why is this artifact reacting to him?’

Willow shook her head soon after, thinking that this generation was full of odd young men.

She began to worry about her daughter, while the other nobles in the room continued their own diverging thoughts about the ending.

Norman Silver was surprised to see such a side in Cassius, noting how much he had changed compared to before.

Stanley Castria was a man who valued discipline and Will above all else, as the greatest Swordsman of the Kingdom, and arguably among the best on the continent.

To him, Cassius fell squarely into that category, and so he naturally respected him.

Boris Safara wore a frown, looking with displeasure at his daughter and at Cassius himself.

There were the Knights of the Deathless Crusaders who remained completely silent, none able to guess what they were feeling.

But it was plain and obvious how the Hood and Desdemona felt, just by looking at their faces.

Pride, love and respect. All three combined.

Again, Cassius had shown them why he was the favourite, and why he deserved anything from them.

Morenna was already thinking about what kind of gift she would give her angel. Sefira, meanwhile, was dying for the Palatine Crowning ceremony to begin so she could see and hug her son.

’He... he is the best. My baby... is truly the best.’ She thought, holding the trembling hand of Aldrin, who was exercising a great deal of willpower to stop himself from taking out the book about Cassius and beginning to write.

’Can you see, Red Queen? He told me he would become Palatine... and he did it.’

[I saw it.] Red Queen whispered, happy. [He is truly the Last Born. Winning against someone so heavily Blessed is a feat that is shaking the gods right now.]

’Bad things, I assume?’ Sefira sighed, clenching Aldrin’s hand tighter.

[Terribly. You already know how they all want to end your bloodline. They have been calm these past years because you agreed to stop at the Fourth rank. That, and because no one of genuine threat had been born. But this is different now.]

The Red Queen paused, and Sefira’s eyes hardened.

[Cassius Desdemona is a threat, Sefira. And the gods hate threats. And they hate it even more when the threat comes from the bloodline of the woman who wanted to kill all those gods and create her own.]

’So it’s time, you mean?’ Sefira said. ’It’s time to advance to the next rank and begin the plan?’

[Yes.] Red Queen smiled. [It’s time to lose all your power and restart from zero, my dear friend. You and your husband. It’s time, now that the youngest is in the Academy. You have delayed it long enough.]

Sefira closed her eyes. She was incredibly happy for her son, but at the same time, equally afraid.

But there were not thousands of choices before her, and she needed one so she could be ready.

Sighing, Sefira regained her composure. She continued to smile proudly, burying the weight of her decision for later.

’I will protect you, my baby.’ She thought, then looked at Morgan and Dorian, and suddenly hugged them, confusing her children immensely. ’I will protect all of you. No matter what.’

Aldrin saw it and understood instantly what his wife was thinking. He sighed wryly, looking overhead, and understood how weak he still was in the grand scheme of things.

It was time to take one step further.

’Time to be who I am.’

...

At the same time, the teachers’ room was not without its reactions.

A number of teachers were awed by Cassius. There were also others who were completely indifferent. Among the second group, two were particularly interesting.

The first was an old man with a full head of white hair framing his face, his eyes hidden within the folds of his heavy eyelids, wearing a simple black flowing robe.

In his right hand was a small wooden sphere that he constantly turned between his fingers.

Each time he did, the sphere transmuted: from wood to metal, to rock, even as far as ice, then water, before returning to its original wooden form.

He did it effortlessly, without even thinking. His mind wasn’t even on Cassius. Instead, his attention was fixed on Emrys Stormblessed.

’He is the one? Interesting. He is more talented than I thought.’ The old man’s sphere spun faster, and the transmutations grew quicker.

The second was a man with a beautiful silver moustache, around forty or so, bearing the characteristic appearance of the Glassscion Family.

He was Natalia’s cousin, Jules Glassscion, and his eyes as he thought about Cassius were not pretty.

Then again, there was one teacher who was neither awed nor indifferent to the situation.

That teacher was simply going crazy.

’He is the one.’ Seraphim whispered, her pupils rotating continuously within her irises. ’I truly love this nephew of mine! He is simply perfect! I choose him! He reminds me so much of me! Ahhh! He is so pretty! So pretty! I will take good care of him, Sefira! Don’t worry...’

She looked at the scar on the back of her hand, gnawing at her own flesh.

’...I will take care of your — our — baby.’

Her body trembled with something unknown, eager to meet her pretty baby, completely unaware of the hidden turmoil the Dean of the Academy was going through at that very instant.

Her mind was fixed on Cassius’s left eye, and the more she thought about it, the more an unreasonable amount of rage began to build within her.

’So they used you.’ She gritted her teeth, doing her best to control her power, otherwise she would destroy everything. ’They used you as material for a Characteristic!’

For so long.

It had been hundreds of years since she had been searching the world for that man. She had even gone to his City, and found it destroyed — burned to ashes by a residual power that had left her speechless.

Nothing was left.

She had thought he had died, and it had taken nearly fifty more years just to climb out of her grief.

But now here she was, witnessing a damned eighteen-year-old human using his power.

The Dean could feel that that man was not the only dragon refined to create that eye. There were hundreds of them. But she could feel him accurately, for that man had been the leader of the Red Dragons, and every power of that race had come thanks to him.

’I should have guessed the moment I saw his fire. That was not a fire a human being could wield. That fire could only be created by dragons.’

Yet he had done it. Now she knew why.

But the question that couldn’t help but surface in her mind was... how? How had he obtained this eye? Or more importantly, how had he obtained the Refining Process of a dragon?

Because there existed no record of anyone holding a Characteristic tied to dragons.

Cassius Desdemona was the first ever seen and witnessed holding one...and that, by the entire Kingdom and beyond.

That meant he might well possess the Refining Process for the Red Dragon species.

And because of that possibility...

’Cassius Desdemona!’ The Dean growled inwardly, her eyes transforming, for a moment, into the slitted eyes of a ferocious dragon.

...Cassius Desdemona became the target of both dragons... and dragon hunters.

—End of Chapter 201—