Chapter 217: What is Ezra Crestfalls’ Ability?

The Crestfall family was known for their affinity for Light abilities. In this world, those belonging to big families or ancient bloodlines possessed very similar abilities, with the same affinity.

The Crestfalls, for example, were directly associated with elements of Light- light manipulation, reflection, light arsenal, light constructs, illusions through refraction, etc. The first Crestfall, Ezra Crestfall I, was an S-Rank Light Manipulation ability holder.

This also explains, in some way, the reason for Ezra’s name.

As a tradition of the Crestfalls, any S-Rank male born in the family would be named after the first Crestfall. Once that person became the family head, they would be given a numbered title to signify their position and timeline.

In the history of the Crestfalls, Ezra would be the third S-Rank of the family, after 100 years. This showed the rarity of S-Ranks in the world.

Back to affinity, Ezra was the only one in the family with a different ability, which no one had been able to name up till now. He, of course, knew the name for his ability, but he never bothered to tell anyone, or rather, he couldn’t tell anyone.

The reason was as simple as it could be.

Ezra was just like Chloe and Silas. His ability was inherited from an entity, not awakened in the normal ways. That was the reason for his hair color change and his temperament. His ability was like the Light ability, so the name it was given, which was being used currently, was Absolute Spatial Light.

And it was totally wrong.

His ability was never related to light, and...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Felix had never in his life imagined seeing a monster as huge as a military armored tank being punched almost a kilometer away by a human.

His eyes widened as the monster, a Deviant Shadow Bear, flew past him, its eyes bulging. The shockwave alone almost ripped his armor apart, and he had to use his Stone Manipulation to solidify his stance, or he would’ve followed the monster to wherever it was going.

Looking towards the source of the punch, he saw a young man with dark skin and purple hair, standing there looking at his fist, which was glowing with rings of purple light. His expression was calm and calculating, while his hair glowed.

He identified him instantly... Ezra Crestfall, the strongest S-Rank in West Town Saints Academy, and the whole of City AF.

"..."

"Hmm... My calculations were off course again..." The Ezra here and the Ezra who had spoken to the headmaster some weeks ago were totally different. But this was the real Ezra, or a part of the real one.

He was calm, calculating, and highly intelligent. But that was just a part of it. The other part, which he had seldom shown to anyone, would make Kelvina question if she was really crazy.

Kelvina didn’t wait.

The moment the Deviant Shadow Bear regained its footing, she vanished. The ground beneath her feet detonated as she accelerated forward, one of her swords already drawn.

The B-Rank monster barely had time to raise its massive paws.

"Too slow."

SLAM!

Kelvina’s blade crashed into its shoulder. The impact twisted the monster’s enormous body sideways before sending it flying once again.

BOOOOOOM!

The Deviant Shadow Bear tore through a cluster of trees, its armored body carving a massive trench through the earth.

Kelvina grinned. "Got you."

She immediately chased after it, but before she could deliver the finishing blow, something purple streaked past her.

Kelvina’s eyes widened.

"What the-?"

Ezra had moved.

He appeared beneath the airborne monster with one hand already extended. His fingers closed around one of its short, stubby tails, and the entire B-Rank monster’s body froze.

For one absurd second, Ezra just stood there. Then he pulled, and the enormous creature came crashing downward.

WHAAAAAAAAAM!

Ezra swung the Deviant Shadow Bear around like it weighed nothing. Once, twice. Then-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

He slammed it directly into the ground. The earth buckled, and a massive crater formed beneath the monster. The creature didn’t move. Its body twitched once. Then went completely still. It was dead.

Silence descended over the battlefield.

Kelvina stood frozen several meters away, Felix’s mouth hung open, and the other West Town students stared. Even the students watching through the observation drones went silent.

Ezra released the monster’s tail, and its enormous body dropped limply into the crater. He looked down at it.

"Hmm." He tilted his head slightly. "I may have used too much force."

Kelvina slowly lowered her sword.

"You just killed a B-Rank by swinging it around."

Ezra looked at her.

"Yes."

"You didn’t even use your ability."

"I did."

Kelvina’s eyes narrowed.

"No."

She pointed toward the crater.

"That wasn’t Light."

Ezra said nothing. Around them, the other students began whispering.

"What the hell was that?"

"His speed..."

"He caught an airborne B-Rank with one hand."

"And then used it as a weapon."

"Isn’t his ability supposed to be Absolute Spatial Light?"

"That’s what they’ve been saying."

"But that’s not Light Manipulation."

One of the observation drones zoomed closer.

Across the live broadcast, the commentators were already scrambling.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to replay that."

The footage rewound.

Ezra appeared as a blur again. Then the moment he caught the Deviant Shadow Bear, the swing, and the impact.

The commentators fell silent.

There was simply no way to explain what they had witnessed using the information publicly available about Ezra Crestfall.

For more than a year, the question had followed him.

What exactly was Ezra Crestfall’s ability?

The Crestfall family was famous for Light. Every generation produced Light-affiliated abilities. Light Manipulation, Light Constructs, Light Weapons, Light Reflection, Refraction, and Illusions.

The family had even produced an S-Rank Light Manipulation user a century ago, yet Ezra’s ability had never behaved like any of them.

He could move at impossible speeds. He could reinforce his body beyond what an ordinary S-Rank should possess. He could produce those strange purple rings. He could manipulate spatial phenomena. He could perform calculations in combat that seemed almost supernatural.

And now, he had casually caught a B-Rank monster by the tail and smashed it into the ground.

Kelvina walked toward him. Her eyes were shining.

"Ezra."

He looked at her.

"What?"

"What the hell are you?"

Ezra stared at her for a moment. Then his expression became completely neutral.

"Human."

Kelvina’s eyebrow twitched.

"That’s not what I meant."

"I know."

"Then answer properly."

Ezra looked toward the corpse. The purple glow around his hair slowly faded.

"I can’t."

Kelvina’s smile disappeared.

"You can’t?"

Ezra turned away.

"It’s complicated."

That answer only made things worse, because somewhere beyond the battlefield, the people watching weren’t laughing anymore. They were calculating.

An S-Rank who had remained unexplained for more than a year. And now, for the first time, the world had been given a glimpse of what Ezra Crestfall was actually capable of.

It wasn’t Light, not even close. Kelvina looked at his back. Then she smiled, a dangerous smile.

"Interesting."

Ezra stopped.

"What?"

Kelvina rested her sword against her shoulder.

"Nothing." Her eyes gleamed. "Absolutely nothing."

Ezra sighed.

He already knew that expression. And somewhere above them, the observation drone continued recording.