Chapter 189: The Headmistress Speaks II

Some of the boys including, Kol, James, Sol, and Peter sat with their mouths slightly open, staring at the screen in pure shock and wonder. They had expected an older, stern, powerful master.

They had never imagined that the ruler of their school would look like a timeless goddess.

Even Eleanor, Layla, and Nadia, women who were widely considered the absolute pinnacle of beauty in the academy, looked minor compared to the sheer, overwhelming presence of the woman on the screen.

Yet, despite her beauty, her cold expression and the heavy aura seeping through the connection made the boys shiver in their seats. None of them dared to make a sound.

Lynx remained leaning back against his chair, his posture completely relaxed. As his eyes locked onto her figure, he instinctively used his Primordial Vision to scan her underlying power structure.

For a fraction of a second, Lynx’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before instantly returning to his normal, calm state.

An Eternal Blessed? Lynx thought to himself, his mind analyzing her invisible energy threads. And an absurdly high tier one at that.

Her mana depth is absurd. If prime Nyx fought her right now, Nyx would win, but it wouldn’t be an easy fight at all.

On the screen, Headmistress Amelia leaned slightly closer to her device, her pure white eyes scanning the room of students gathered in the distant hotel.

As her gaze swept over the crowd, she expected to see what she always saw when young students looked at her, fear, deep intimidation, or nervous awe.

Every boy in the front rows was sweating, ducking their eyes, or staring with wide, timid expressions.

Except for one.

Amelia’s white eyes stopped moving as they locked onto Lynx Azarion.

Lynx was sitting with Lira and Kira leaning against his sides, his legs crossed casually. He wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t sweating. He wasn’t acting timid or overly respectful.

He was simply staring directly into her white eyes with a thoughtful look, as if he had just looked straight through her soul and figured out a secret about her.

Amelia noticed that for a single millisecond, his eyes had shown a flash of genuine shock before settling back into that permanent, faint smirk at the corner of his handsome lips.

Did he just... perceive something about me, or graps how strong I am? Amelia thought, a sudden spike of intense curiosity sparking inside her chest.

No student can read an Eternal aura through an hPad connection. What is this boy?

For a long, heavy moment, the Headmistress of Aether Blessed Academy and the Year 2 student stared at each other through the floating screen.

Lynx held her gaze without flinching, his faint smirk growing just a tiny bit wider.

Inside her mind, Amelia couldn’t help but acknowledge his absurd appearance. He really is as breathtakingly handsome as everyone reported. Unbothered, completely calm, and ridiculously calm under my aura.

A faint heat coiled behind her sternum, unfamiliar and irritating. She had faced powerhouse, Kings, beasts, and traitors without her pulse shifting.

Yet this boy, surrounded by girls, looking at her like she was a puzzle rather than a god, made her heart beat one fraction too fast.

Amelia broke the long silence in the room, her voice smooth, deep, and carrying a natural power that made the speakers on the hPad vibrate softly.

"Well done, Lynx Azarion."

The moment those four words left her lips, every head in the room turned to look at Lynx.

The five Year 1 students who had lost in Phase 1 looked at Lynx with absolute, shining respect in their eyes.

The Year 3s and eliminated Year 4s swallowed hard, realizing that the Headmistress’s very first statement wasn’t addressed to Queen Eleanor or the professors, but to a Year 2 student.

Lynx raised his eyebrows slightly, a smooth, relaxed smile spreading across his face.

"Thanks, Headmistress," Lynx replied casually, his tone light and easy.

Amelia’s white eyes lingered on Lynx for two more seconds before she shifted her gaze toward the rest of the gathered students. Her expression softened just a fraction.

"And well done to the rest of you," Amelia said, her voice reaching every corner of the grand hall. "You have made me proud. You lost your matches, yes, but you did not lose because you were weak. For the first time in ten entire years, Void Blessed Academy felt so deeply threatened by our academy’s strength that they were forced to use fancy, illegal tools just to secure a win."

She paused, her white eyes narrowing slightly as her voice turned cool.

"They brought out external multi multiplier rings because they knew that in a fair fight, our Year 4s would have wiped the floor with them," Amelia continued. She turned her head on the screen, looking toward Professor Rose. "Professor Rose, I received your detailed report yesterday."

"Yes, Headmistress," Professor Rose said, slightly bowing her head respectfully. While Amelia and Her knows all that is just a farce.

Amelia turned her gaze back toward Lynx on the screen, a tiny, almost invisible curve appearing at the corner of her full red lips.

"I see that Mr. Azarion took it upon himself to tear off the limb of one of Void’s top Year 4 fighters and crush his cheat ring into dust on the stage," Amelia said smoothly.

"A rather dramatic way to defend our academy’s honor... though I suspect he was simply furious that they bruised the pretty girls he keeps around him."

A sudden wave of faint blushes erupted across the seating area.

Kira turned her head away quickly, her deep orange eyes flaring with embarrassment as her cheeks turned red.

Lira squeezed Lynx’s arm tighter, hiding her blushing face against his shoulder. Across the table, Queen Eleanor felt a warm flush rise up her neck to her cheeks, while Layla, Iris, Rhea, and Nadia all cleared their throats, shifting uncomfortably under the Headmistress’s amused words.

Lynx simply let out a short, genuine laugh, shaking his head without denying a single word.

Amelia then turned her white eyes toward Eleanor. "You fought exceptionally well, Eleanor. You forced their strongest seed to push her cheat ring to its absolute limits just to stay standing. You acted like a true Queen."

"Thank you, Headmistress," Eleanor said quietly, placing a hand over her chest and bowing her head.

What shocked the entire room, however, was what happened next. Amelia’s eyes swept right past Julian Frostborne and his escorts, completely ignoring his existence on the screen as if he weren’t even sitting in the hall.

The message was instantly clear to every single person present, Julian Frostborne was no longer considered the king or leader of the student body. His arrogance and defeat to Lynx had stripped him of any standing in the Headmistress’s eyes.

Julian’s fingers dug into his own knees under the table. Kol glanced at him sideways, but said nothing.

The humiliation was absolute, public, and delivered by the one person in the empire whose approval he had craved since his first year. No scolding was needed. Being erased was worse.

Amelia looked back at the center of the room, her voice turning firm and decisive. "You have all done your part. You fought, you bled, and you showed them our spirit. Now, you will leave the rest of this tournament to Lynx."

Lynx leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, his heterochromatic eyes shining. "Thanks for trusting me with the rest of the show, Headmistress."

Amelia let out a low, smooth breath that sounded almost like a faint chuckle through the speaker. "We both know that no matter what pathetic tricks or extra rings they pull out in the finals, none of them stand a chance against you, Lynx."

Lynx laughed softly out loud. He accepted her statement as a absolute fact. "They really don’t," Lynx replied smoothly, his eyes locked on hers. "I’ll make sure the final bracket is a complete wipe."

Amelia gave a tiny, genuine smile at his response, clearly enjoying his supreme confidence.

"Good," Amelia said. She paused for a moment, resting her hands on her office desk as she looked at the professors. "If Lynx brings the tournament trophy back to the Aether Empire this year, I intend to change the tournament rules going forward. I will shift the Supreme Blessed Academy Tournament from an annual event to once every four years."

Professor Jace blinked in surprise, stepping forward. "Every four years, Headmistress? May I ask why? The annual tournament has been the standard for decades."

Amelia shrugged her pale shoulders with careless elegance on the screen. "Because I feel like it. It has nothing to do with whether our academy can defend the title. I simply don’t care to send our students to deal with Void’s nonsense every twelve months."

She turned her attention toward Eleanor, Layla, Julian, and the senior Year 4s.

"You participated in last year’s tournament when you were Year 3 students, correct?" Amelia asked.

Eleanor and Julian both nodded quietly. "Yes, Headmistress," Eleanor answered.

"How was last year’s event compared to what you experienced over the last ten days?" Amelia questioned.

Eleanor took a slow breath, her purple eyes serious. "Last year was like any normal, standard tournament. We went there with very little hope of winning the top spots, and we lost fairly in standard matches. There were no extreme casualties, and no one was trying to cripple us."

"And this year?" Amelia asked softly.

Eleanor looked over at Lynx, as did several other students in the room. Lira and Ophelia gently rubbed Lynx’s shoulders and hands, their touch soft and warm.

"This year, we actually had real hope of winning," Eleanor said, her voice filled with quiet pride. "And before they brought out those rings, we proved it by winning our matches cleanly and smoothly."

Amelia nodded her head slowly on the screen. "Exactly. That is the entire point. They felt threatened by our academy for the first time in an entire generation, and they tried to put a violent stop to it out of fear. But they failed to realize one very important detail."

She looked directly at Lynx Azarion one last time, her pure white eyes gleaming with absolute trust and deep intrigue.

"They didn’t account for you," Amelia said quietly.

She spent another few minutes addressing the younger Year 1 and Year 2 students, speaking calm words of encouragement that eased the lingering fear and disappointment in their hearts.

The heavy, gloomy atmosphere that had hung over the grand hall for three days slowly began to lift, replaced by a quiet, burning anticipation for the next phase.

Some of the Year 3s who had been staring at the floor for days finally lifted their chins. The Year 1s, who had thought they were worthless after their early elimination, felt their golden marks pulse a little warmer, as if the blessing itself was responding to her voice.

For the first time since Phase 2 ended, the hotel hall didn’t feel like a morgue.

"Rest well, all of you," Amelia concluded, her hand reaching toward her camera feed. "I will be watching the final stage personally."

The screen flickered dark, and the frozen ring of ice floating in the air dissolved into light mist, allowing the hPad to settle gently into Professor Selene’s hands.

The grand hall remained quiet, but the energy in the room had completely shifted.

Every single student, from the Year 1 losers to Queen Eleanor herself, turned their heads to look at Lynx Azarion, waiting for the next bloodbath to begin.

And somewhere in the back of his mind, Nyx chuckled softly, her voice like silk in the dark. "She likes you, Lynx. That woman does not look at anyone the way she just looked at you. And you should avoid her too, or you might end up as a snack."