Chapter 70 Reckoning

Chapter 70 Reckoning
If anyone had told Ravelyn five minutes ago that she’d be holding an entire room of divine weapons hostage just by existing, she would have laughed in their face. Yet, here they were.

Thousands of ancient blades, spears, and halberds hovered in the air, vibrating with a dark, terrifying frequency. Their tips were all locked onto the three Academy Elders floating near the blasted entrance. The golden holy light that usually filled the Vault of the Divine was completely suffocating under a thick, heavy blanket of midnight-purple dragon aura.

Elder Malakor actually took a half-step back in the air, his glowing white staff trembling slightly. The supreme, unbothered confidence on his wrinkled face cracked, revealing a very human flash of panic.

"What is the meaning of this?" Malakor demanded, though his voice didn't boom quite as loudly this time. "Lower your weapons, girl. You are outnumbered and outmatched."

"I'm literally not doing anything!" Ravelyn snapped back, her voice rough from Kaelie’s chokehold. She gripped the handles of her Nocturnis Fan, her knuckles white as the dark electricity crackled up her forearms. "They're reacting to me, you old fossil! I don't have a remote control for a thousand floating swords!"

Across the pavilion, the students were practically clawing at the stone walls trying to merge with the architecture.

"She’s going to kill us all!" a guy yelled, burying his face in his hands.

"Malakor, do something!" Seraphine screamed from the back, her usual elite composure completely dead and buried.

She was hyperventilating, her eyes darting from the thousands of black-tinted blades to the unmistakable, terrifying pressure rolling off Ravelyn. It was too real now. The legends weren't exaggerating—the sheer weight of a double dragon bloodline was heavy enough to make the air feel like wet cement. But looking at Ravelyn’s messy hair, blood-stained uniform, and furious expression, Seraphine’s brain still fiercely rejected it. No. It’s a trick. A shadow illusion. Zuri’s bloodline cannot be superior to mine!

Nina was huddled behind a shattered pillar a few feet away, her eyes locked on Ravelyn’s bleeding cheek. She looked like she wanted to vomit from the sheer intensity of the magical pressure. When Ravelyn risked a quick glance at her, Nina instinctively shrunk back, her eyes screaming, What are you?

Ravelyn looked away, a sharp, bitter pang hitting her chest. Right. Message received. No bestie status anymore.

"Step down, Malakor," Kieran growled, his shadow mana creeping up the sides of the floating weapons, anchoring them in place like a dark spiderweb. He didn't look at the students or the panic; his entire focus was a lethal shield in front of Ravelyn. "You try to touch her, and I'll make sure half these blades find a home in your chest."

"Kieran, mind your tongue!" the second elder, an ancient woman named Elder Vesper, hissed. "You are the heir to a noble dark house! Protecting a forbidden anomaly is treason!"

"I don't give a damn about your politics," Kieran shot back, a dangerous, arrogant smirk playing on his lips. "Try me."

Lucius shifted his stance, his silver sword raised in a perfect, textbook defensive guard. The contrast between him and Kieran was hilarious—one wrapped in pure holy light, the other drenched in liquid shadows—but they were completely synchronized in their stubbornness.

"Elder Malakor," Lucius said, his voice dropping into that chillingly calm, authoritative tone he used when he was done playing nice. "An immediate execution order without a trial violates the Academy Charter. If you strike, you will have to go through the Saint Line first. Choose your next move very carefully."

Seraphine’s head snapped toward Lucius, her face twisting into absolute horror. "Lucius! Are you insane?! She’s a monster! She’s a dragon born! She will destroy the faction!"

Lucius didn't even blink. He didn't look at Seraphine. He just kept his eyes on Malakor, his shield firmly covering Ravelyn’s left flank. The absolute, unyielding protectiveness radiating from him made Seraphine choke on her own breath, her jealousy morphing into a toxic, burning rage.

"Enough of this blasphemy!" Elder Malakor roared, finally recovering his nerve. He slammed the base of his white staff against the air, sending a massive, blinding ripple of holy fire rushing across the ceiling. "If the Saint and the Shadow Heir choose to fall with the beast, then so be it! Purge the sector!"

The three elders channeled their magic simultaneously. A massive, triangular magic circle materialized above them, glowing with a harsh, destructive white light that threatened to blind everyone in the room.

"Rav, what's the plan?" Kieran muttered through his teeth, his shadows flaring as he prepared to take the brunt of the impact. "Because taking on three elders in a locked room sounds an awful lot like suicide."

"Hold on to your pants," Ravelyn muttered back, her heart hammering against her ribs as her dragon core throbbed violently.

She closed her eyes for a split second, tapping into that hot, ancient rage buried deep inside her veins. She didn't know how to control the weapons, but she knew how to command respect.

"Down!" Ravelyn yelled, snapping both her bladed fans shut with a loud, metallic clack.

The thousands of hovering divine weapons didn't just fly forward—they dropped out of the air like boulders, slamming directly into the floorboards around the elders, creating an impromptu, jagged iron cage that cut off their magic circle. At the exact same time, the massive stone pedestal in the center of the pavilion split entirely in half, a loud, deep roar echoing from the pitch-black chasm Kaelie had jumped into earlier.

The ground beneath their boots completely gave way.

The floor didn't just crack; it disintegrated, plunging the entire center of the pavilion into a sudden, terrifying freefall into the dark, unmapped lower vaults below.

As the screaming students and the cursing elders vanished upward in her vision, Ravelyn felt a strong, heavy hand grab her waist, pulling her tight against a hard chest, while another hand gripped her wrist, anchoring her through the dark. Kieran’s shadows wrapped around them like a protective cocoon, absorbing the brutal impact as they finally hit the solid, dust-covered stone of the deep under-vaults.

Lucius’s holy barrier flared to life a second later, illuminating the ancient, damp cavern they had tumbled into. The celestial prince stumbled, coughing through the thick dust, his silver sword still drawn as he defensively scanned the shadows. "We have maybe two minutes before Malakor burns through that iron cage and brings the entire elite guard down here."

Kieran didn't let go of Ravelyn’s waist right away. He looked down at her, his dark eyes scanning her bruised neck and bleeding cheek with a fierce, burning intensity. The usual arrogant smirk was completely gone from his face, replaced by a dead-serious gravity.

"They're going to hunt you to the ends of this continent, Rav," Kieran said, his voice dropping into a low, rough murmur that ignored Lucius entirely. "The academy, the celestial faction, your 'bestie' Nina—they're all going to want you in chains or a coffin by sunrise."

Ravelyn wiped a fresh smear of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, her throat burning. "Fascinating. Good to know my tuition fees were well spent."

Kieran let out a sharp, dark breath that was half-laugh, half-growl. He stepped closer, his shadow mana swirling around his boots like an open invitation.

"Screw this place," Kieran said, holding out his hand to her, his expression uncharacteristically open. "Come with me to the demon realm. My family’s estate is heavily fortified, and the council there actually knows how to respect raw power instead of crying about it. You'll be safe. I'll make sure of it."

Lucius’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked. He stepped forward, his silver blade cutting through the shadows between them. "She won't be a political pawn for your dark house, Kieran."

"I'm not asking her to be a pawn, celestial prince," Kieran snapped back, his eyes flashing with dangerous heat as he kept his hand extended to Ravelyn. "I'm asking her to survive."