An incredulous gasp was the only sound the five Valerian guards could muster, a single, unified choke of disbelief. Their bravado, their elite training, their very understanding of Aether, shattered into a million pieces.
A suffocating pressure, born not of gravity but of a power so dense and pure it felt like a law of nature unto itself, crushed the air from their lungs. Their ultimate technique, the pinnacle of their coordinated might and the pride of their house, had not been blocked or deflected. It had been erased, unmade as if it were nothing more than a child's fleeting daydream.
In the heartbeat of stunned horror that followed, a glacial sneer of pure, aristocratic disdain graced Elysia's lips.
The infernal heat that had melted the very stage vanished, not fading but being violently annihilated, replaced by a soul-devouring cold that plunged the world into the heart of an impossible, eternal winter. An aura, equal in its terrifying profundity to Lisanna's solar inferno but forged from the absolute zero of the void, soared into the heavens.
The cracked and molten plas-steel floor groaned in protest as a delicate, razor-thin layer of crystalline frost spread across it in an instant, the violent thermal shock causing spiderwebs of new fractures to erupt with sharp, cracking sounds.
Wisps of freezing mist, colder than the deepest abyss, coiled and danced around Elysia's form, her power now a suffocating blanket that utterly dwarfed the combined presence of the five guards.
She scoffed, a sound that dripped with the contempt a goddess might hold for mortals. A single, elegant finger, looking as if it were carved from flawless ivory, rose to point at her foes.
"Freeze," she commanded.
There was no projectile. There was no shimmering beam or wave of energy that could be tracked. It was a command issued to reality itself. A wave of unstoppable, conceptual cold blasted forward, the very idea of stillness made manifest.
It did not travel through the air; the space between her and her targets simply became the weapon, a torrent of Ice Aether so pure, so absolute, it defied the known laws of physics.
"Shit!" the lead guard bellowed, his voice cracking with terror. Instinct, honed by a thousand battles, screamed at him to act even as his mind reeled in denial.
They roared as one, a final, desperate cry to the heavens, pouring every last agonizing drop of their Aether into their strongest defense. Waves upon waves of water Aether erupted from their bodies, continually stacking and swirling in front of them, coalescing into a dense, multi-layered vortex shield—a churning, roaring fortress of flowing power meant to weather any storm.
It was utterly, pathetically useless.
The concept of stillness could not be stopped. The fortress of water didn't slow it down for even a nanosecond. The instant the absolute cold touched the swirling currents, a sound like a continent of ice calving from a polar cap—a deafening, bone-shattering CRACK—resounded through the dome.
The vortex froze solid, the layers of defense becoming a brittle, useless shell of cloudy ice that instantly exploded into a billion glittering, rainbow-hued shards.
The five Valerian guards' faces were permanently captured in masks of utter, final horror as the wave of ice Aether submerged them.
A blinding, silent flash of pure white light consumed the stage. The fight was over.
When the audience dared to blink their eyes open, a collective gasp sucked the very air from the colossal dome. Palms were slick with cold sweat. Hearts hammered against ribs like trapped birds.
"This… this is…" a legendary hero stammered, his mind refusing to form a coherent thought.
"Already… over?" another shouted, his voice raw with disbelief.
Before them stood five perfect, frozen statues. The guards were completely immobilized, their final expressions of terror and desperation flawlessly preserved within the translucent, shimmering ice. They were alive, trapped in a crystalline tomb from which they could never hope to break free.
In the terrifying, profound silence that followed, the Crucible's diagnostic sensors blared to life. A series of sharp, electronic chimes jolted everyone from their shock. Every eye, every hovering drone, every one of the millions of gazes across the continent focused on the massive holographic screens that flickered to life high above the arena.
The readings were displayed in stark, bold, world-breaking letters.
[ELYSIA WINTERCROFT, LISANNA VANCE]
[AETHER CORE PURITY: B-RANK]
[POWER OUTPUT: THRESHOLD SURPASSED // CLASSIFICATION: B-RANK]
Silence.
An absolute, deafening silence filled not just the stadium, but it seemed every room, every plaza, every corner of the Province where the broadcast was being watched.
In their private viewing suites, Theron Wintercroft, Kaelen Vance, Elara Wintercroft, and Alya Vance stared with unblinking eyes, their minds struggling to process the impossible truth burned onto the screen. It was undeniable. Faking a reading from the Aegis Academy's core sensors was a feat more impossible than creating a B-Rank in the first place.
It was true. All of it.
Orion, this unknown entity from the Sump, this boy who had appeared from nowhere, had single-handedly shattered the sacred, immutable law of their world. He had forged two B-Rank Talents in the space of a single week.
It was Lisanna's loud, joyous giggle that finally shattered the stupor. "So this is what it feels like! Not bad at all, right, Ellie?"
Elysia let out a long, slow breath, finding it impossible to suppress the twitching at the corners of her lips that threatened to blossom into a full-blown smile. "It is… an entirely new realm of sensation. But do not let it go to your head. We have no need for two of that one."
Her eyes subconsciously flicked toward Lyra, who coldly smirked.
But Lisanna just giggled again, throwing an arm around Elysia's shoulders in a familiar, friendly gesture that spoke volumes of their newfound camaraderie. "Oh, come on, Ellie, let's just bask in the world of absolute superiority for a little bit!"
Elysia scoffed and rolled her eyes, but her chin was held noticeably higher, her entire posture radiating a new, unshakeable confidence that was breathtaking to behold.
And that was what finally broke the dam. The stadium erupted into a tidal wave of pure, unadulterated noise.
"They did it! By the First Wave, they really did it!"
"He—he can actually shatter the Rank Limits! It's not a lie!"
"A miracle! This is an absolute blessing for Cascadia! A new age is upon us!"
Nobody could remain seated. Stoic, battle-hardened heroes were on their feet, their faces alight with a fierce, burning hope they hadn't felt in decades. Even the most uptight, traditionalist nobles could feel their hearts thumping wildly against their ribs.
Of course, many had made peace with their C-Rank limitations, content with their inherited station.
But to be shown, in no uncertain terms, that the ceiling they had accepted as absolute was, in fact, breakable?
To be offered a chance to grasp for the legendary power they had only read about in history books?
How could one not dream?
For generations, such a thought was pure fantasy. And now, this impossible path was shining with a brilliant, blinding light. If not for the terrifying, monstrous prestige Orion and Lyra had already established, a riot would have broken out as the powerful elite rushed the stage to seize Orion for themselves.
From where the parents watched, they all let out long, shuddering sighs, feeling as if the very foundations of their world had shifted beneath their feet.
There was a beat of shared, stunned silence before Theron spoke, his voice thick with an emotion so powerful it threatened to crack. "My daughter… is an actual B-Rank. A Wintercroft B-Rank..."
Kaelen clutched at his chest, a bewildered, almost goofy smile stretching his face. "This girl that's always giving me a headache… is truly at B-Rank. Gods above, the days ahead are going to be… eventful."
Elara sighed, a faint tremor of relief passing through her, before she crossed her arms, an undeniable, fierce pride rising in her voice. "Of course she is. Elysia always possessed the ambition to soar far higher than this city."
Alya simply held a placid smile, shaking her head in fond amusement. "Next thing I know, she'll be telling me anything is possible. That girl of mine is going to become even more chaotic."
As the world reeled, struggling to come to terms with this new reality, Orion took a single step forward. The simple movement was like a magnet, drawing all attention, all noise, all focus onto his impossibly calm figure.
His voice rippled out, needing no amplification, a serene anchor in the raging storm of emotion that commanded everyone to listen.
"This is no miracle," he declared, his voice clear and steady. "Rather, it is a new path laid before you. That so-called rank limit is nothing but an illusion, a cage of your own making."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in before delivering the final, earth-shattering statement. "It is a cage that only I can shatter, for any woman with whom I choose to bond."
That declaration caused a beat of stunned silence before absolute, shameless chaos erupted once more.
"Sir Guardian! Sir Guardian, can it truly be done with any woman?!"
"Sir Guardian, is there any way we can arrange a private meeting to discuss potential partners for you?!"
"Sir Guardian, I am sure my daughter, a fine peak C-Rank herself, would be quite pleasing to your eyes! She is a true beauty of Cascadia!"
Amidst the shouts and the increasingly desperate, pathetic requests, Orion just kept his calm, unreadable smile. He was about to speak again when a low, violent tremor suddenly shook the entire Crucible to its very foundations.
BANG!
The ground lurched with sickening force. Crimson alarms began to blare, their deafening, panicked cry slicing through the chaotic shouts. Holographic screens of warning text flared to life all around the dome, screaming of a structural integrity failure.
"Who dares?!" Heroes and nobles alike, whether from the Academy or not, instantly surged with what little Aether they could muster, their expressions turning hard and battle-ready.
An attack, here and now? It was unthinkable.
"This is…" Elysia and Lisanna instantly turned serious, their newfound B-Rank power rippling around them like a protective cloak of starlight and frost.
"Hm?" All the while, Orion and Lyra merely raised a single eyebrow in mild curiosity. The duo flashed to the sides of Elysia and Lisanna, their calm gazes narrowing on a specific, unremarkable spot within the stadium's upper architecture, where a strange, dissonant hum was beginning to poison the very air.
A sharp, analytical gleam surged in Orion's eyes.
A startling sense of unease, a cold and greasy thing, began to slither through the electric atmosphere of the Crucible. The initial shockwave of the demonstration had barely settled, the impossible readings of "B-RANK" still burning on the holographic screens, yet a new, unwelcome current was twisting the air into something foul.
Those watching the broadcast were utterly baffled.
History was being made, a showcase that would permanently alter the landscape of Aether power. Who in their right mind, what force so suicidally arrogant, would dare inject chaos into a moment witnessed by the collected might of Cascadia?
At first, whispers pointed to the predictable: a league of supervillains, making a desperate play for infamy. But before that theory could even take root, the air began to vibrate. It started low, a subsonic thrum felt more in the bones than in the ears. Then, it sharpened into a low, dissonant hum that filled the entire stadium.
It was not a sound of this world. It was a piercing, grating frequency, a nail scraping across the chalkboard of the soul. It bypassed the physical shell, ignored the barriers of Aether, and smashed directly into the spirit.
"Kreeeee—"
The hum grew louder, more insistent, and its effects were immediate and catastrophic.
"Ahhh!"
Screams of pure, unadulterated panic ripped through the stands.
A grizzled C-Rank hero, a man who had faced down city-level threats without flinching, suddenly went white as a sheet, his knees buckling as he collapsed to the floor, gasping like a fish out of water.
Nobles clutched at their heads, their carefully constructed facades of composure shattering like cheap glass as they retched. Wild, horrified shouts erupted from every corner of the magnificent dome.
"What—what is happening?!"
"My Aether! I can't… I can't feel my Core! It's gone!"
"I can't even stand! My body feels like lead!"
"Gods, what is this noise?! Make it stop!"
The C-Rank Heroes and powerful nobles in the audience were reduced to stumbling, helpless children. The potent momentum they had surged with moments ago, the hope and ambition kindled by Orion's promise, vanished as if it were a fleeting dream. Their Aether Cores, once roaring furnaces of power, felt like sputtering, dying embers drowning in a sea of mud.
Not a single person in the audience could properly command their energy.
Even the Aegis Academy staff, down to the formidable Principal Gold himself, could be seen gripping their seats, faces pale and strained as they fought against an invisible, crushing weight that sought to sever them from the very source of their strength.