A sputtering young man was ejected.
Holden couldn't even orient himself properly. His feet stamped down, thinking that he was landing on solid ground, only to land right on his head instead.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head, blood and water spewing out in a violet rouge mix that tore his throat to ribbons.
And then he lost consciousness.
Theron continued to stand on the platform, blinking at Holden's unconscious form as though surprised he was so weak. Then he looked to Rowan.
The silence was deafening.
Holden wasn't just any First Silver Resonance Mancer. He was ranked in the top 100 of them in the Obsidian Eclipse Sect, and top five within the Bordeaux Clan. But even the first-ranked of the Bordeaux Clan couldn't possibly defeat him so easily.
But to Theron, it was only natural. Was it his fault they couldn't tell he was already at Third Resonance? Maybe they should have awakened Third Eye in Bronze Resonance like he did before they started an attempt at targeting him.
Was she ranked above Holden? Yes.
Did it matter? Not even the slightest bit.
Holden was ranked fifth while she was ranked third amongst the Bordeaux Clan. Honestly speaking, it would only be a matter of time before they were first and second respectively because they had only just broken through into Silver Resonance.
The problem was that… in the eyes of everyone else, Theron should have only recently broken through as well.
If she and Holden were to battle, it would definitely last dozens of exchanges at least before she won a clean victory. But she most certainly couldn't do what Theron just had.
"No takers already? I didn't expect First Resonance Silver Mancers to be so weak. How about this? Second Resonance. If you can find a Second Silver Resonance Mancer who can last ten moves against me, I'll give them my head."
The arena shook as soon as Theron finished speaking. A behemoth of a man with muscles stacked atop his muscles appeared. His vitality seemed to suggest he was barely 20 years old at most, but it was hard to blame someone for thinking that he was already in his 40s.
Theron raised an eyebrow, his eye catching the bronze glint streaking across the man's skin.
"Honestly, I'm more interested in challenging the disciples of the Obsidian Eclipse Sect. But I guess this wasn't the best place to do that."
"Are you looking down on me?" The young man asked coldly.
"Didn't you hear me? I look down on anyone below Third Silver Resonance. I think I made that clear already."
A savage grin spread across the young man's face. He spread out his hands, a pair of hammers with faces twice the size of his own head appearing in his palms.
"According to the rules, you're not even a student of our academy yet. I can't wait to splatter your blood all over the walls."
A cold glint flickered in the depths of Theron's eyes when he heard this. These words weren't spoken for him, they were spoken in reminder to everyone else.
He had expected this at some point, but it wasn't something that these kids should have been able to pick up on so quickly—especially not in the heat of the moment.
Was that him looking down on these students? Maybe. But that didn't mean he wasn't correct.
As the young man suddenly charged at him, Theron's senses began to spread out as though he couldn't sense what was coming.
There was definitely someone watching him that directed this.
"Why is he doing this?" A voice came.
"He's probably sent by the Thistles to provoke us. But they clearly don't care about his life very much if they sent him into the lion's den ."
"They know we can't kill him in the open."
"They should also know we have a million ways to kill him in secret."
"Not if he becomes an Imperial Academy student."
"What are you talking about? It would be especially easy if—."
"Why don't you go to that old woman and tell her that? Do you remember the rampage she went on after what happened in that little branch academy? In fact, if I recall the details of what happened back then, didn't that Teacher Fern get fired because of this brat in specific?"
"The Thistles wouldn't possibly know that. Even if that saved the kid, it would be purely coincidental and just another proof of their incompetence. They're just ants who think too much of themselves. The game the Firewings and Nightingales are playing exists on a scale they can't fathom."
Silence greeted the words.
"Don't underestimate the Thistles."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Back then… the Thistles should have become a Grand Duke Clan at the very worst. It was their bad luck that the Firewing Lineage was born."
"How is that related?"
"Fire restrains Wood. A province appearing right next to us, one that evolved such a strong Fire affinity, restrained the progress of Wood Mana in this region and allowed the Nightingales to take precedent over the region."
"You're saying the Nightingales took advantage and then suppressed the Thistles? That's foolish. Why didn't they wipe them out to the last man?"
The words were spoken so naturally, and that was because it was. Who would allow their enemy to grow in their territory and become a silent cancer ?
"Plus, Wood is a Variant Mana. It's not so easy for Fire Mana to restrain it."
"Since when was the Fire Mana of the Firewings so simple? And now they've birthed another Fire Spirit Mancer."
"You still haven't answered the question."
"I think you already know the answer. If they could have destroyed the Thistles, they would have. So you guess what it means that they haven't yet."
A silence fell again before a murmur echoed.
"… I don't get it. There's nothing special about them. Their Patriarch is a fool too."
"Let's just say that the Firewings aren't the only Elemental Spirit Mancers. There's a reason the Thistles randomly birth Spirit Mancers from time to time… And something tells me that with their recent aggression, they've finally birthed another genius that can stand alongside Grand Duke Thistle."
A hushed wind whistled by, the words of blasphemy hanging heavy in the air.
The Title of Grand Duke had not been that of the Thistles for a long while.