Anastasia did not just speak. She projected.
She stood before the crystal microphone, her posture a line of unbending steel drawn by a master architect. Her voice was not loud, yet it resonated in the chest of every student in the hall, carried by a subtle, passive application of mana.
"We are the shield," Anastasia said. Her golden eyes swept across the audience, making every student feel seen, judged, and found worthy. "The Empire, the Palaces, the Kingdoms. They have sent us here not to hoard power, but to refine it. Magic is not a privilege. It is a debt we owe to those who cannot wield it."
Vane watched her from the shadows of the stage wings. He was not listening to the words. He was watching the mechanism.
He watched how she modulated her breathing to keep her voice steady. He watched the precise, practiced tilt of her chin that radiated authority without arrogance. He watched the way her hands moved, graceful and deliberate, emphasizing points without looking frantic.
It was a performance. A masterclass in ruling.
Vane could not copy it. Not here. Not without taking her to bed, and looking at the icy disdain in her eyes, that was not happening anytime soon.
But he did not need to steal it. He just needed to mimic it.
He tapped his temple.
[Skill Activated: Courtier’s Mask (Grade F)]
The skill hummed in his veins. He had acquired this years ago from a fallen baron’s daughter who had ended up in one of his brothels. She had taught him that nobility was a lie you told with your shoulders.
The memory of her trauma flickered in his mind, her father beating her for slouching at dinner, but Vane pushed it aside. He let the muscle memory take over.
His spine locked into place. The tension in his shoulders evaporated. His chin lifted exactly fifteen degrees. His breathing synced with the rhythm Anastasia had used.
Anastasia finished her speech.
"Let us be the light that drives back the dark," she concluded.
The applause was rapturous. Even the professors nodded in approval. It was the perfect speech for a Hero.
Anastasia stepped back from the podium. She looked at Vane. Her expression was expectant. She had set the bar in the stratosphere. She wanted to see if the commoner could reach it, or if he would trip over his own tongue.
"Your turn, Rank 1," she whispered as she passed him.
Vane stepped into the light.
He gripped the podium. He felt the eyes of a thousand Adepts drilling into him. They were waiting for the thug from Oakhaven to stutter. They were waiting for the street rat to reveal himself.
He did not give them the satisfaction.
He looked out at the crowd. He did not glare. He did not scowl. He looked at them with the bored, absolute confidence of an Emperor surveying his subjects, his posture a mirror image of the Princess who had just left the stage.
The murmurs died down. The students frowned. He looked different. He stood like her.
"The Princess speaks of shields," Vane said.
His voice was smooth. The rough, street-worn edge of Oakhaven was gone, smoothed over by the borrowed discipline of the fallen noblewoman.
"She speaks of debt. Of duty. Of protecting the weak."
Vane paused. He let the silence stretch, holding the room captive just as Anastasia had done.
"That is a beautiful lie."
A ripple of shock went through the front row. Anastasia stiffened. Isaac looked up from his book.
"Look around you," Vane continued. "You are not here to be shields. Shields get dented. Shields get broken. Shields are discarded when the war is over."
He gestured to the Headmistress sitting behind him.
"Headmistress Evangeline did not bring us to this island to save the world. She brought us here to survive it."
Vane leaned forward. He dropped the perfect, noble cadence for just a second, letting the grit of the Crime Lord bleed through the mask.
"The world outside does not care about your House name. It does not care about your bloodline or your honor. A goblin will eat a Duke just as fast as it eats a beggar. The only difference is the Duke tastes richer."
Laughter bubbled up from the back rows, nervous and shocked. The Professors were leaning forward. Professor Ignis, the man with the beard of fire, was grinning.
Vane resumed the noble posture.
"We are not shields," Vane said, his voice rising. "We are the hammer. And if you come here thinking you can hide behind duty, or honor, or the person standing next to you, you are going to be the nail."
He looked directly at the front row. He locked eyes with Isaac.
"Do not try to be a hero. Heroes die young. Try to be the one standing on the pile when the dust settles."
Vane stepped back.
"Thank you."
There was no applause at first. The students were too stunned. He had taken the Princess’s format, her rhythm, her very presence, and used it to dismantle her ideology.
Then, a single person started clapping.
It was Isaac. The Frost Monarch was clapping slowly, a look of genuine entertainment on his face.
The sound broke the spell. The back rows erupted into cheers. The commoners, the scholarship students, the ones who knew the mud, roared their approval. The nobles sat in stony silence, insulted but confused by how regal the insult had sounded.
Vane walked off the stage. His hands were shaking, but he kept them clasped behind his back so no one could see.
He stopped next to Anastasia. The Princess was pale. She was looking at him with a mix of fury and confusion. She recognized the posture. She recognized the breathing technique. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror.
"You," she hissed. "You stood like me. You spoke like me."
"I told you," Vane said, his voice dropping back to his natural, rougher tone. "I wanted to learn from the best."
Professor Ignis leaned back in his chair, watching Vane as he stood on the stage after the speech.
"Interesting," the Master muttered to the elf beside him. "The Princess wants to save them. The boy wants to weaponize them."
"He is an Elite," Professor Vyla noted, adjusting her glasses. "His mana capacity is average for his Rank. But his intent, that was not the speech of a student."
"No," Ignis agreed. "That was the speech of a survivor."