Just as Egon and Nina disappeared, Zadkiel and his legion stormed inside the hall.
His huge eyes witnessed their fleeing scene, and his face twisted in dark anger.
Bang!
His fist slammed on a pillar nearby, making the whole Library shake with his power.
"You helped them escape, Vedtal. I will kill you!"
He rushed forward to hit Vedtal's face, but he only saw a faint smile.
"You know you can't kill me, Zadkiel. So, stop wasting your time. I have already grown numb to the pain."
Bang, bang, Bang!
And yet, Zadkiel didn't stop. He jumped onto the old man and kept pummeling his face until white blood stained the floor and Vedtal's face was deformed.
The old man didn't scream, nor plead.
"Your time has run out, Zadkiel. You can't control your fate any longer."
Zadkiel paused, looking slightly uneasy. He ordered his men to search for those two foreign souls, but it wouldn't be so easy to find them now.
Everything happened as if always meant to be.
Fate's course had been rewritten.
--
Plop!
Egon's consciousness slammed back into his ten-year-old body. He gasped, water coughing out of his lungs, his body landing with a wet thud on the stone floor. He felt a profound sense of exhaustion from the Soul Power drain and the shock of merging two Grimoires, but his limbs were instantly flooded with immense, raw Strength.
Most probably it was the immediate effect of the A-Rank Blood Berserker Grimoire.
However, Nina was nowhere to be see. She had returned to her own awakening pool.
The chaos that greeted them was absolute. Recruiters were screaming, pushing past
Egon's bewildered parents, trying to reach him.
"Egon Noiré Delacroix Awakened A-Rank Grimoire!" the overseer announced.
Miss Beatrice, the Royal Academy recruiter, was the first to reach Egon. Her face was no longer doubtful or scorn. It was excitement of seeing a rare talent.
"You are coming with me, young man. The Anos Kingdom welcomes you!"
Egon had no energy left for talking, but the Blood Berserker Grimoire reacted instantly. His small hand shot out and clamped down on Beatrice's wrist before she could touch him.
He met her grip with a terrifying, adult force.
Beatrice, a Sorceress backed by the Crown, shrieked, instantly recognizing the immense, raw power—power that shouldn't exist in a ten-year-old boy.
"Get your hands off my son!" Edmund roared, finally shoving through the crowd, his face pale with a mix of fear and ferocious pride. Luminaire also rushed to help her son.
Egon released Beatrice's wrist, nut the force leaving a distinct bruise. Nonetheless, he forced his exhausted body to stand up, stabilizing himself against the spinning world.
"Father," Egon rasped. "We need to leave. Now."
The matter was serious. A commoner with black hair had awakened an A-Rank Grimoire. It was unprecedented in history. It would obviously attract some hidden ambitions and dangerous attention. Their utmost priority was to escape the awakening platform, just to be safe. The matter of admission could come later.
Edmund also understood that. Seeing the sheer predatory desperation in the eyes of the Recruiters, especially the Royal Academy representative, he didn't hesitate. He knew that an A-Rank Sorcerer was not a child but a resource to be seized by powerful organizations. He wouldn't leave his son open to danger.
"William, help us leave the square!" Edmund shouted to the nearby Knight, dragging Egon out of the crowd.
William nodded, while his daughter Olivia stood stunned.
"H-how?" she could only mutter this word, just like the hundreds of spectators around them.
Regardless, Egon and his family were somehow able to leave the place safe and unharmed.
While leaving, Edmund glanced at Egon with a weird gaze. His son had achieved what he and many commoners yearned for their whole life.
Luminaire's gaze was complex. It was a mix of deep worry and pride for her son. She hadn't expected this to happen at all. But now that this had happened, she realized how much danger her son was in.
He could be subject to some cruel experiment, or worse, enslaved by powerful forces.
Late at night, she stuck close to her husband's chest, thinking about it.
"What should we do, Edmund? Those people wouldn't leave our son alone. We have no power to stop them."
Edmund clenched his fist. "It's all my fault. If I had been stronger, I could have protected my son. And we wouldn't have to escape from the Noiré house either..."
At the mention of her family, Edmund's eyes lit up. He gazed at his wife deeply.
"Lumina, you should inform your parents. They surely wouldn't refuse their grandson's potential. Our Son can be saved by their backing."
Luminaire shook her head vehemently. "No, I won't do it. They might accept their grandson for his potential, but they wouldn't accept you, Edmund. And I don't want to live without you."
Edmund touched her cheek in a gentle manner.
"Don't be so emotional, Lumina. Our boy's life is at stake here. I can manage to stay away from you three for a few years. And when our children get stronger, we can get together as one big happy family. Maybe I will be Father-In-Law by then," he jokingly added.
But she could feel his pain, his solitary life already. Once their location was revealed to the Noiré family, Edmund would be hunted like a dog.
She understood everything with cold clarity. And yet, she couldn't ignore her son's safety either.
In the end, under Edmund's continuous persuasion she agreed.
"Alright, I will do it. But you have to promise me that you will visit me once every month. Are we clear about that?"
"Haha, everything for you, My wife. I can go through hell, if you want me to."
Following the agreement, at midnight, she quietly prepared to contact her distant, estranged family. She knew the message had to be simple but impossible to ignore.
She sat at her vanity, pulling out a small, ornate silver locket, which was a parting gift from her mother that contained a specialized, low-tier communication crystal designed for long-distance family messaging.
She hesitated, her finger hovering over the crystal. Once the message was sent, their quiet, peaceful life with Edmund was over.
But Egon's life was the priority.
She finally pressed the crystal and began to speak:
"To the heads of the Noiré family. I am your unfilial daughter, Lumina Noiré. I have an urgent message regarding a direct descendant. My Son Egon Noiré Delacroix has successfully awakened. His Grimoire is A-Rank."
She paused, knowing the sheer impossibility of the next words would guarantee immediate action, despite his black hair.
"His affinity is Blood. He has bound to the Blood Berserker Grimoire."
The communication crystal pulsed violently, signaling a near-instantaneous response from the distant, powerful Noiré House.
They were coming...