*****
"What are you doing here?"
Lyrium stood motionless for a mont before slowly turning his body backward to see who was behind him.
It was the headmistress.
"Miss Emily…"
Emily spoke slowly while staring into his crimson eyes.
"What are you doing here at this late hour?"
Before composing himself, he slowly spoke calmly to her.
"Miss Emily… this is the training room for freshn and students who want to beco stronger. Can't I, as a student, use this room to train myself and strengthen my body?"
"…"
Lyrium was right, he was absolutely right.
She had no right to stop a student, a sage, who wanted to beco stronger from using this room.
Then, as she composed herself, she calmly stared at him before speaking.
"Lyrium Blackwood, you're absolutely right. I have no right to stop you from using this room as a teacher... But until..."
She shifted her gaze toward the main exit door before suddenly dashing toward it.
Whoosh—!
Then, she opened the door.
"…Until you don't damage the room, its structures, or anything placed within the academy."
She spoke confidently as she pointed her index finger toward the main hall of the academy.
And it was a ss, the academy hall, the classroom doors were all broken, and the windows were cracked.
"Ah, shit,"
Lyrium mumbled slowly under his breath.
"And cursing to yourself won't fix anything, Blackwood…"
"…Because the room, the walls, and the windows were all made from anti-mana source material, one of the strongest materials ever found on Earth."
She then turned and stared directly at him.
"But the main question is…"
She paused, her gaze unwavering.
"How did you, a re student, manage to destroy this kind of material…?"
Lyrium remained silent, his gaze flickering between Emily and the ruined hall.
The weight of her words pressed down on him, but more than that, a creeping realization settled in his mind.
He hadn't intended to cause this much destruction.
His training had been intense, perhaps too intense, but to shatter sothing made of anti-mana source material?
That should have been impossible.
Emily took a step closer, her expression unreadable.
"Well?"
Lyrium exhaled, running a hand through his dark hair.
"I... don't know."
A flicker of sothing passed through Emily's eyes, doubt, curiosity, or maybe even concern.
"You don't know?"
He shook his head.
"I was just practicing. I pushed myself, but I never thought..."
His voice trailed off as he looked at his hands.
Emily folded her arms.
"Either you're lying, or you've awakened sothing."
Lyrium clenched his fists.
"Awakened?"
Emily sighed.
"Anti-mana materials don't just break. Even powerful mages would struggle to scratch them. If you really did this, then sothing inside you is changing."
The words sent a shiver down Lyrium's spine.
He knows he used that skill, but this... this was sothing else.
Emily studied him for a long mont before turning toward the ruined hall.
"We need to report this."
Lyrium's eyes widened.
"Wait. Report to who?"
Emily glanced back at him, a smirk playing on her lips.
"The Grand Council."
A cold silence filled the air.
Lyrium swallowed hard.
His pulse quickened at the ntion of the Grand Council.
He had heard the rumors, no he knows exactly what is this thing.
He read about it, he heard whispers of how they handled anomalies, how they 'monitored' those with power beyond their understanding.
He took a step forward.
"Miss Emily, is that really necessary?"
Emily didn't turn to face him.
"You just shattered anti-mana material, Blackwood. Do you think that's normal?"
Lyrium opened his mouth to protest but stopped.
He knew she was right.
This wasn't normal, it wasn't even close.
Emily sighed.
"Look, I don't want to cause you trouble. But if I don't report this, soone else will. And if the Council finds out we tried to hide it…"
She let the implication hang in the air.
Lyrium's mind raced.
If the Council got involved, they would dissect everything about him, his past, his abilities, and worst of all, his limits.
And he wasn't sure he had any.
He took a deep breath, pushing down his unease.
"Fine. But let explain first before they jump to conclusions."
Emily raised an eyebrow.
"Explain what, exactly?"
Lyrium hesitated.
Could he even explain it?
The mont replayed in his mind, his body moving instinctively, his mana surging beyond his control.
"I don't know yet,"
He admitted, eting her gaze.
"But I need ti to figure it out."
He lied.
Emily studied him for a long mont before sighing.
"Alright. I'll delay the report, for now. But I expect answers, Blackwood."
She turned on her heel, stepping past the ruined hall.
"Get so rest. You'll need it."
As she disappeared into the shadows, Lyrium exhaled.
Lyrium didn't know what to do and how hide about the skills and all about his talent and abilities.
And if he didn't do sothing really fast.
The, the entire academy, no, the entire human domain, the entire earth would know.
*****
A day has passed like that.
The first rays of sunlight crept through the towering spires of the academy, casting long shadows across the stone pathways.
The morning mist still clung to the training grounds, giving the air a crisp, damp chill.
Lyrium sat on the edge of a fountain in the academy courtyard, his hands subrged in the cool water as he stared at his reflection.
Last night…
The shattered hall.
The cracked walls.
Emily's piercing gaze.
He flexed his fingers.
They looked the sa, pale, calloused from training, but sothing within him had shifted.
He knows he used that skill but, thaf skill was atleast more like abe able to cut through a stone boulder.
Also, it was skill to expand a place and make it a domain for the user.
The most concerning thing is that, about the wall.
'How did I do it?'
"You're up early."
Lyrium's head snapped up.
A familiar voice.
Ren.
The Long Red-haired student approached, hands in his pockets, his ever-present smirk tugging at his lips.
Unlike Lyrium, who was still in his training clothes from the night before, Ren was already dressed for the day, his academy robes neatly arranged.
"Rough night?"
Ren asked, sitting beside him.
Lyrium hesitated.
Ren was his friend, or at least, as close to a friend as he had in this academy.
But even so, could he tell him?
Ren studied his face before scoffing.
"Let guess. Soone gave you hell?"
Lyrium exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck.
'How did he even know?'
"Sothing like that."
Ren chuckled.
"I don't that soone probably has it out for you, man. I swear, you could breathe wrong and that she or he will lecture you about it."
Lyrium didn't respond.
His mind was still tangled in last night's events.
After a mont, Ren frowned.
"Hey… you good?"
Lyrium glanced at him, debating whether to speak.
Finally, he said,
"Sothing happened last night, Ren. Sothing... strange."
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"Strange how?"
Lyrium clenched his fists.
"I broke sothing I shouldn't have been able to break."
Ren blinked.
"What do you an?"
Lyrium hesitated before finally saying it.
"I destroyed anti-mana material."
Ren froze.
The air between them grew tense.
"...You're joking."
Lyrium shook his head.
Ren stared at him, then exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair.
"Shit."
Lyrium nodded.
Ren stood up abruptly, pacing.
"Okay, hold on. That's… That's insane. Anti-mana material doesn't break. Even high-ranking mages can't do that easily. How, ?"
"I don't know,"
Lyrium admitted, his voice quiet.
"That's the problem."
Ren stopped pacing, his expression unreadable.
Then, after a long silence, he said,
"We need to figure out what's happening to you."
Lyrium looked up at him.
"And if the Grand Council finds out first?"
Ren smirked.
"Then we make sure they don't."
Whewshh—!
A breeze swept through the courtyard, rustling the leaves.
The academy bells tolled in the distance, signaling the start of the day.
But for Lyrium, this was the start of sothing much bigger.
Sothing dangerous.
And he wasn't sure he was ready.
*****
Lyrium and Ren slipped into one of the academy's abandoned study halls, a dimly lit chamber filled with dust-covered bookshelves and ancient tos.
It was the perfect place to avoid prying eyes, and ears.
Silas shut the door behind them and crossed his arms.
"Alright, let's break this down. Walk through what happened."
Lyrium leaned against the desk, exhaling.
"I was training. Pushing myself harder than usual. At so point, I felt… sothing. It wasn't mana, at least not in the way I've known it. It was deeper, rawer."
He told him so truth as well as so lies.
Ren frowned.
"Deeper how?"
"It was like… I wasn't drawing mana from within , but from sothing else, sothing vast. And then, before I knew it, the walls cracked, the doors shattered, and…"
Lyrium paused.
"Emily was there."
Silas cursed under his breath.
"So, that soone was her, huh of course she was."
Lyrium let out a dry chuckle.
"Yeah, lucky ."
Ren rubbed his temple.
"Alright. So you tapped into so new power, sothing beyond normal mana. But that doesn't explain how you could break anti-mana material. That stuff is designed to resist magic entirely."
Lyrium looked at his hands.
"I know."
Ren sighed.
"Alright, let's test sothing."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small obsidian shard, a fragnt of an anti-mana core used in high-level enchantnts.
He tossed it to Lyrium.
"Try breaking it."
Lyrium hesitated before gripping the shard.
He focused, trying to recall the sa sensation from last night.
He reached deep within himself, searching for that strange energy.
Nothing.
He clenched his fists.
Co on.
Still nothing.
Ren watched, unimpressed.
"I'm not seeing any walls breaking, buddy."
*****
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