Everything happened fast.
Too fast, even for his eyes, which saw everything in fractions of seconds.
A blinding light engulfed the white room.
Then an Aether vortex ford, right above the cores.
All the Aether in the environnt instantly congregated towards it, condensing everything into a single point.
An Anomaly was created...
This caused the world to beco quiet.
Then it was destroyed.
All due to its owner's last command.
The Zerathar wished for their deaths.
And the world responded to that wish as it was silent no longer.
An implosion of absolute energy occurred.
Stronger than the one Emir experienced with Virearth, and even stronger than the nukes of long ago.
All because of the influx of Aether those six cores unleashed to their surroundings.
This explosion wiped everything in its vicinity to nothingness.
And Emir could do nothing but watch...
'0.01'
Watch as the wave neared them.
'0.009'
Ever so quickly.
'0.008'
Every mont was an agonizing wait for certain death.
'0.007'
'0.006'
'0.005'
It had knocked on Emir's door, this ti around.
'0.004'
'0.003'
Then, it opened.
'0.002'
And after a step forward...
'0.001'
Death had arrived.
'Dammit-'
WHOOSH!
His thoughts paused, alongside the world itself or so it seed, and an old man appeared before him.
What once was a bright world turned dark.
And the explosion was snuffed out.
Silence returned.
The only sound that resounded in the room was Ragnar's quick breaths.
He didn't understand what happened and had only just realized that his death was a mont away.
{You've passed the test.}
{Congratulations.}
Emir didn't say anything and bowed his head down.
"Speak... You three passed."
The old man, who had his hands behind his back, gave him permission, his voice
uncharacteristically soft.
'So the novel spoke true, huh.'
"Thank you... Principal Amon."
Amon turned around, his face showing subtle surprise.
"Oh, so you truly are a chosen one."
"Yes, nice to et you, Principal."
"Please, don't be too formal with ."
Emir nodded.
"Alright, old man."
Flabbergasted, Amon's jaw went agape, almost reaching the ground. "Act shy, at least!"
The prince chuckled and gestured for his brother to introduce himself.
Appearing to have just gotten out of his shock, Ragnar stuttered out:
"S-Sorry, uhh... Principal, I'm R-Ragnar—"
"Calm him down."
Emir complied with Amon's demand and patted Ragnar's back.
"He isn't here as the principal, just a supervisor, so you can just ignore him if you want."
Ragnar's head snapped at Emir and his outlandish comnt.
Amon, a Celestial, an Archon, with a life span of over a century, didn't have anyone who knew of his status interact with him in such a way.
"Well... as long as he calms down."
Showing a nod, Emir left Amon alone and pulled Ragnar towards Morgiana, who remained at
the back of the throne room.
"Give her so dicine."
Ragnar grabbed the hundred million UC old-world dicines that Emir presented and shoved
them down Morgiana's throat.
She was Aether starved, and this wouldn't resupply her reserves, but it would give her back energy, in turn waking her up.
And that's what she did a few seconds later.
"Awake?"
A groggy Morgiana nodded at Emir, a weary but triumphant smile gracing her lips.
"Looks like you guys killed it...."
Ragnar matched her energy tenfold and pulled her off the ground.
"Hell yeah, we did!"
A quiet laugh was shared between them as a sense of accomplishnt settled.
This marked the end of their harrowing ordeal and the dawn of a new phase in their journey.
Killing the Tyrant wasn't an option the supervisors presented to the candidates, so the fact that this trio actually did it was almost...
Inconceivable.
And they not only killed it but totally dominated it, which was harder to imagine.
Domination wasn't possible without a plan.
So yes, Emir did in fact have a plan in mind from the start; it was what his actions showed.
But if he had shared that plan, then winning might've beco impossible.
Attacking 'blind' was the only conceivable path forward that he found.
After all, the UEF had access to Morgiana's thoughts, which ant that they could give the
Tyrant the idea behind their attack.
However, in the scenario Emir created, this couldn't have happened as the possibility itself
was wiped out.
The ones attacking didn't know what they were doing themselves, so how would the UEF
know?
'Ah... wait.'
But even with all that planning, Emir seed to have overlooked sothing.
'I fucked up.'
***
"That was impressive..."
"Amon?"
"Yeah, snuffing out an Aether implosion instantly like that... it's no wonder he's the principal,
eh?"
Eldritch, Auric, and Ignatius talked amongst themselves, already moving on from the battle
they witnessed.
If anyone saw them now, they wouldn't have related them to the screaming monsters from a
few minutes ago.
anwhile, Isidore remained relaxed on his throne, many thoughts going through his mind.
The unnatural teamwork between Emir and Ragnar interested him at the start, but soon it
grew suspicious.
No matter how skilled they were, it just wasn't possible for soone on their level to adapt
that quickly to a stranger.
But... what if Ragnar wasn't a stranger to Emir?
What if, on the extrely off chance that both of them were... 'Subjects?'
"No, no, no... that's impossible."
A murmur escaped his lips as those thoughts reached him.
Subjects were controlled and watched over from the outset, and if they at any point in their
lives proved useless to the Order, certain death could only be a natural consequence. Emir was the only one who escaped their clutches, but instead of death, he received a galactic
bounty, one that only 'he' could control.
So if Ragnar truly was a subject, then he escaped... flawlessly.
The Order didn't know of his existence, as they assud him to be dead.
Isidore's curiosity bested him, and he soon commanded to be shown the inner workings of
Ragnar's mind.
With this, he would know of their relationship, as Ragnar's thoughts would unknowingly rat
Emir out.
While Isidore was doing that, Auric pressed a button on his armrest and commanded: "The test is over; send everyone back ho and wipe their mories."
"Get Emir, Ragnar, and Morgiana to the Hub; if they don't need any help, invite them to the
observation room."
"They are hereby accepted as professors."
***
Ragnar, Morgiana, and Amon talked in the middle of the room, but it was mainly Amon
telling them what would happen to them next.
Emir was by himself, sitting on the stairs leading to the cracked white throne.
He didn't need Amon's words, as he already knew what was coming next.
So instead, he focused on what happened in the test.
His mind was constantly telling him that he had overlooked sothing...
[Is it Ragnar?]
[...But what? What did I miss?]
Suddenly, his entire body twitched.
[Shit.]
He had finally realized it.
[The thoughts...]
[They'll know everything.]
[I'm fucked!]
Emir took the relic off his finger and 'angrily' threw it away.
'Or so they'll think.'
What he just 'thought' was like the usual ruse he set up, one of his implanted thoughts.
Unlike usual, however, he made this up on the spot, as only minutes ago had he realized the consequences of Ragnar's intervention.
It greatly switched up the end of his plan.
With Lyra alongside him, they could account for every variable imaginable, with the limit
only being her processing power.
But unlike her, Emir was a human and couldn't calculate for everything. Ragnar's thoughts reaching them escaped his mind until the last mont, where he faked a
few thoughts and sent them over.
Emir knew that the Elite could read his brother's mind, as he had already thought all about it
back when he entered the digital realm.
Yet he couldn't tweak his relic, as there was a high risk involved.
Ragnar wasn't immune to the contract like Emir, so if it were detected, instant death would be
the least of his worries.
So instead, Emir could only... trust the bastard.
Yes, he had to trust him.
The thoughts he sent were an assist to Ragnar, as they would amplify what he kept in his
thoughts.
If they were bad, then it would beco terrible.
Why? Well, because of the Streisand effect.
But if they were good, then it would beco incredible.
And now, he couldn't do anything except wait for the results.
After Emir's thoughts slowed, he approached his companions, who were still listening to
Amon's lecture.
However, that lecture paused when the principal saw Emir near them.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I am, Principle; we can go to the observation tower now."
"...Sure, and by the way, about the friends you had made a few hours back..."
"You an the three loudmouths?"
Amon showed a sad face and dropped his head down while saying:
"Yes... well, they killed themselves."
Emir smiled.
"I see... That's too bad, eh? Now let's go."
The principal grabbed Emir's shoulder while fishing out his terminal.
"Right, but before that, I need you three to sign this contract."
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