Chapter 188: The Headmistress Speaks I

Three long, quiet days had passed since the intense qualifying rounds of Phase 2 came to a brutal close.

The overall results of the second phase had left the entire tournament in a state of quiet shock.

Void Blessed Academy now held twenty four qualified spots in the final bracket, even after Lynx had brutally dismantled Vanek on the final day, and even with Kimberly Vane taking three individual tournament slots through the officials rigged bracket system.

In total, fifty fighters had reached the finals. Beyond Void’s dominating twenty four spots, Heather Blessed Academy held six remaining fighters, and Beacon Blessed Academy was left with only two.

Aether Blessed Academy officially held eight spots in the bracket. Technically, only four individual students from Aether had survived the grueling bloodbath.

Lynx Azarion, Ava Musk, Ophelia Dragwyn, and Lira Verne. However, because Lynx had entered his name into four separate slots on the bracket board, those four extra positions belonged entirely to him.

The numbers were being repeated on every big broadcast across the empires.

Commentators from the neutral academies couldn’t hide their disbelief when reading them aloud.

For decades, the balance had always been Void, Aether, and Heather trading blows at the top while Beacon lingered in fourth. Now the board looked inverted, corrupted, and everyone knew it but no one had the authority to reset it.

Although Void was still number 1, this wasn’t how it was shooosed to go. Especially with how Aehter Blessed Academy dominated the first Phase. Now?

Void Empire had completely dominated the second phase of the competition. Even if the spectators and officials from outside the Aether Empire refused to say it out loud, everyone who watched the matches knew that something was deeply wrong.

The Void students had suddenly shown unnatural, massive stat boosts out of nowhere. They had systematically battered and defeated the top Year 4s of Aether Blessed Academy.

Even though the Aether students had fought with every drop of blood in their bodies, making the Void fighters bleed heavily and drag out every single match for twenty painful minutes, the Void students still won in the end.

It was a terrifying shift in momentum, especially after Aether had completely dominated Phase 1 of the tournament.

Now, all forty six students from the Aether delegation, along with their academy professors, were gathered inside the grand hall of the luxury 7 star hotel reserved exclusively for Aether Blessed Academy.

The grand room was massive, lined with smooth marble pillars and heavy glass chandeliers, but the atmosphere inside was thick, heavy, and dead silent.

The enchanted chandeliers overhead had been dimmed to their lowest setting, casting long shadows between the pillars.

No one had bothered to order food from the hotel’s kitchen. Even the ambient mana in the room felt sluggish, weighed down by forty six exhausted soul signatures.

Seated around a large circular sofa in the middle of the hall, Lynx sat calmly.

Surrounding him closely were Ava Musk, Kira Lewis, Lira Verne, and Ophelia Dragwyn. Their voluptuous bodies pressed near him, their hands resting against his arms and legs as if finding comfort in his presence. Raven sat just a few feet away with Diana, her quiet eyes focused on the group.

Further down the seating arrangement sat Julian Frostborne, looking pale and miserable, his face still showing the faint signs of his earlier defeat.

Beside Julian were his remaining squad members, Kol, James, and Mars, along with Sol and Peter Musk.

Sitting directly across from Lynx was Queen Eleanor Haleborn. Her deep purple hair fell gracefully over her shoulders, and her striking purple eyes looked steady despite the deep fatigue still lingering in her body.

Seated beside Eleanor were her elite escort squad, Layla Solara, Iris Nightglow, Rhea Dawnwhisper, and Nadia Goldspire.

The rest of the hall was occupied by the remaining Year 3 students and the five Year 1 students who had been eliminated back in Phase 1.

Every single student from the Aether delegation was present in the room.

Every student had been completely healed by the high level tournament Healers over the last three days.

Broken bones had been reset, cracked ribs fused, and torn skin closed. Yet, despite their physical recovery, the mood in the grand room remained extremely gloomy.

On the foreheads of every single student and professor in the room, except for Lynx and Professor Rose, a distinct, faint golden mark pulsed with a soft light. It was the mark of them being a Blessed. Standard for all Blessed of Aether Empire.

Lynx had been resting inside his internal mind world with Nyx earlier that morning, relaxing in one of the quiet darkness of his soul space, when the urgent call had come for all students to assemble in the grand hall.

For five straight minutes, no one spoke a single word. The silence in the room was suffocating. The students stared down at the polished floor, their shoulders heavy with disappointment.

They knew that despite their brave efforts and bloody fights, they had lost almost every match to Void’s cheated strength.

Nyx had warned him before he left the mind world that the emotional pressure in the hall would be suffocating. She was right. The air was thick with bruised pride and unshed anger. Even the most hot headed Year 3s didn’t have the energy left to curse Void out loud.

Finally, Professor Jace stood up from his seat near the head of the room. He adjusted the collar of his suit jacket and cleared his throat softly, breaking the heavy quiet.

"We called all of you here today to discuss what happened over the last few days," Professor Jace said, his voice flat and serious.

"Phase 2 was a disaster for our academy on paper. Almost our entire Year 4 roster has been removed from the tournament."

The students kept their eyes downcast. None of them wanted to make eye contact with the instructors.

They felt like failures, knowing that the reputation of Aether Blessed Academy was hanging by a thread in front of the whole world.

Professor Mira immediately stood up next to Jace, placing a gentle hand on the table. She looked across the room at the bruised pride of her students.

"No one in this room is going to blame any of you," Professor Mira said firmly, her eyes softening as she looked at Eleanor, Kira, and the rest of them.

"We saw every single second of your matches. You gave everything you had. You bled on that stage, and you fought until your mana pools were bone dry. The students from Void Blessed Academy were using illegal external items to multiply their stats. They cheated. You did not fail. You were robbed."

Professor Selene stepped forward from the side of the room. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sleek, thin black device, an hPad, a modern, high tech handheld tablet.

"We cannot force the tournament committee to disqualify Void without proof that their rings break the current rules," Professor Selene explained quietly.

She tapped the screen of the hPad a few times. "However, someone very important wants to speak to all of you directly."

Professor Selene raised her left hand, igniting a small, controlled thread of her Ice Affinity. A thin ring of clear frost formed in the air above the center table.

She released the hPad, allowing it to float seamlessly inside the frozen ring, perfectly suspended in mid air so every student in the room could see the screen.

"The Headmistress would like to address the entire delegation," Professor Selene announced.

The title dropped like a weight. Several Year 1 students actually flinched. Professor Jace straightened his spine instantly, and even Professor Mira, who had been soft a moment ago, folded her hands with formal respect. The name alone changed the oxygen in the room.

Instantly, all the faint murmurs and shuffling in the room died out completely.

The Headmistress.

The legendary figure who ruled Aether Blessed Academy from the shadows. Except for Queen Eleanor, Julian, and the academy professors, not a single student in this room had ever seen her face before.

She was an absolute myth to the Year 1s, Year 2s, and Year 3s. Even Lynx sat up slightly, his heterochromatic eyes focusing on the suspended screen with genuine interest.

The hPad screen flickered twice, changing from a dark standby screen to a live video feed.

The camera on the other end was set in a dimly lit, magnificent office. At first, all the students could see was a slender, delicate hand holding a small porcelain cup.

The dark skinned fingers gently swirled the cup, allowing the steam of black coffee to rise into the shadowy air.

The person on the screen took a slow, calm sip, set the porcelain cup gently onto a dark wooden desk, and then stood up from her chair.

The entire grand hall held its breath. The silence was so absolute that you could hear the soft hum of the hotel’s air magic.

Even through a digital screen across thousands of miles, a dense, terrifying aura radiated from the device, making the air in the room feel heavy and cool.

The woman on the screen walked slowly toward the light near her desk camera. As she stepped into the soft glow, her features finally became visible to the forty six staring students.

She had pale, flawless skin that looked like polished ivory. Her lips were full and painted a deep, striking shade of red. Cascading down her back was long, pure black silk hair that caught the light with a soft shimmer.

Set into her perfect face were two pure, solid white eyes that held no pupils, shining like bright moons. Right on the center of her smooth forehead, a brilliant golden mark glowed with divine authority.

Her face was breathtakingly perfect. It wasn’t just pretty or attractive, it was an overwhelming, terrifying perfection that left the young men in the room completely paralyzed.

The light from her office caught the edge of her desk, revealing stacks of sealed reports and a single black blade resting horizontally on a stand.

It was clear she hadn’t come from a ceremonial meeting. She had come from work, from meetings, from somewhere far above the concerns of a hotel hall.

The boys mouth were wide open.