A soft knock at Markus' door rang throughout his room.
'The headmistress?' Markus thought, sensing her through the door
He went over to the door and opened it.
"A new crystal message has been sent from The Capital. Her Majesty wants to talk to you… directly." Charlotte said
"Through a crystal thing?" Markus asked
"It is a direct projection of her through the crystal." She said
"Okay… when and where?" Markus asked
"Right now. Right here." Charlotte said, taking out the crystal and handing it over to him.
Markus took the crystal and felt like he held a bomb.
He went into his room and placed it on his desk.
He waited a while but in just a few moments, the crystal lit up.
Then the light took shape and there she was in all her royal glory.
Markus dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"The improbable becomes probable around you, doesn't it?" She asked rhetorically
Markus remained silent
"Congratulations on your advancement. I am pleased with your progress. Your reward for your fourth advancement is up to your discretion, so take some time to think about it.
Whilst you do that, there are things you need to know. There are two weeks left until June. In June, you will graduate ahead of time. Following your early graduation, you will return to The Capital where you will be permanently allocated until your ascension as emperor. Whilst you will be assigned there, you may leave on assigned missions. These missions will be assigned for you to gain experience in the hidden affairs of the kingdom. More will be explained by Enrique when you're back at the royal palace." She said casually
"… I want to stay… I should have another two years left of study! That's my reward— to stay at Tuatri." Markus said shakily
"No. That cannot be allowed. You are too valuable now to be left in a backwater city like Tuatri when you are of greater use elsewhere." She said with a finality in her tone
"Please–" Markus pleaded as he looked up
"My orders are final. You can settle your affairs and return by my side of your own will or I can have you dragged back kicking and screaming before I use the mind crystal. The choice is yours." she said before turning the crystal off
Markus grabbed the crystal and went outside.
BOOM! BANG BANG!
KABOOM! WHOOSH!
TTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Explosions and area levelling attacks resounded in the whole dormitory.
"What's happening!" students shouted
"It's a lesser spirit! We're being attacked by a wind lesser spirit!" other said as the ground shook from attacks
The guards quickly arrived only to see a young man giving it his all at trying to destroy a crystal transmitter.
"WHY!"
"WON'T!"
"YOU!"
"BREAK!"
Markus shouted as he unleashed all his artillery against the damned crystal, but to not avail. A construct made by a master could hardly be destroyed by an expert. And crystals were even more durable than enduring stone so he had no hope in destroying it.
"President Markus stop!" one of the guards shouted
"SHUT UP!" Markus said, thoughtlessly swinging his hand back to push them away.
His anger and carelessness however, led him to use a wide whirlwind swipe that sent them all flying back and cut across their chest horizontally, instantly incapacitating over 10 experts who were all off guard.
The others who were not immediately hit instantly activated essence shell and took battle stance.
There were still another eight experts surrounding him.
"Surrender now! We have you surrounded!" A guard shouted
"Surrounded? So what— get the fuck away from me." Markus said as the winds converged around him
"Just don't kill him." A guard said
As their essence converged and instantly shot forth, a soft breeze flowed at the epicentre.
In the chaos of all attacks, the experts saw one of them fall as a blurry figure appeared and vanished just as quickly.
With their essences screaming in their heads at the danger, all breaks were pulled as deviations of elements were unleashed.
Whirlwind bullets hovered in the air. Heavy enduring suits of stone armour enveloped some guards meanwhile blue flames augmented others and heated up the world around them. And finally ice mounts formed, ready to swiftly strike.
The blurry figure flew to the skies where he was assaulted by all the ranged attacks.
Calling upon whirlwinds however, Markus created a cyclone of ravaging wind. The attacks were swirled and spat back out— then the cyclone itself was expanded to send a shockwave of force against the opponents.
The guards were not lazy or unprepared. The enduring stone rose as a dome against the redirected attacks and withstood the counter attack and shockwave.
"How are we getting held back like this by a single student! Wind users go fight him!" A stone user shouted
Two figures flew up toward Markus however as they rushed forth, the target itself vanished once more.
Instead what was left in his spot was a spear of absolute chaos. The swirls were drawing so much essence, their own essence felt like it was being drawn from their own soul. That was because they too drew on the environment to a limited extent, but the swirls of whirlwind greedily got to all of it first.
They felt lonely and stripped of a basic ability. Now they had an option, find and chase after the president or interrupt the convergence of whirlwind to stop the spear from forming.
"Focus on the spear. If it blows half the damn campus might be destroyed." One of them said
So they focused on the spear
Meanwhile Markus called upon a blade of whirlwind to hack away at the dome. As his blade slashed at the stone, he decided to hasted the process.
Enchanting his blade of whirlwind with whirlwind and conjuring slashes of whirlwind, he instantly cut through the stone which collapsed under the multilayered penetration of whirlwind.
Once Markus entered the dome, he sealed it with his own construct.
Like a bloodthirsty beast, he dove into the targets.
'The spear is gone' he thought as he lost the connection to it
Markus stepped through the paths and uppercut a flame expert before detonating his shell so that the blue flames on the expert wouldn't spread to him.
As ice shards and blue flame wisps went to his position, he stepped through the paths again but this time he ran into a wall and stumbled and crashed into the ground which instantly turned into thick mud.
Ice spears fell down toward him like javelins.
He stepped through the paths to target a stone user but he travelled with the mud on him.
Feeling the particles of earth, they felt Markus coming and instantly smashed the ground below them, causing him to change direction and fall right into the lap of the other two flame users who already cast down a blue flame net constructed to catch fast opponents.
As Markus flew right into the scorching the net, his barrier finally collapsed as the two experts outside broke through.
In the pinch, Markus detonated his essence shell, breaking free and pushing everyone with their backs against the dome.
Then the dome altogether was cut in two and opened.
Haroldson opened up the dome like a gift box and let in a wrathful white figure. Stepping through the paths, Charlotte saw Markus out of control and headed right for him.
Markus sensed and saw her path lead right to him.
He himself stepped through the paths but as he did, she cast a whirlwind blast right into them, cutting him off and throwing him out from the paths.
As he stumbled out of them, she was on him like a hunter who had cornered his prey.
Markus looked for another way out but she completely unleashed her essence, blinding him entirely as all the paths distorted.
"You cannot beat me at my own game. Yield." She said sternly
Markus' face looked conflicted for a moment before he was completely engulfed by rock formations like a pyramid with his head as the tip of the prickly pyramid.
"What has gotten into you Windwave! I should expel you right now for this behaviour!" Haroldson shouted
"Oh don't worry about getting rid of me— someone got ahead of you already! I won't be your problem anymore— rejoice!" Markus shouted back
"What..?" Charlotte asked
After that Markus just silently brooded as he tried to not lose it again.
'Everything I worked for— everything good I could've had! All of it will— I'm just meant to leave it! All because she told me to! Why the hell do I have to be at her beck and call— I hate her!' Markus screamed internally as he was taken to an underground area to the academy designed for violent 'problem' individuals.
After a day in isolation, Charlotte came down.
"Eleven expert guards are in hospital and seven more are going through essence depletion because of what you did. At the scene I found the transmitter crystal and reports say you were destroying the area around you as you tried to destroy this. You mentioned someone already took care of you leaving the academy? What did her majesty say?" Charlotte asked
"… I've become too valuable now. She won't let me out of her direct control so she's calling me back to The Capital and forcing an early graduation." Markus said with his eyes sunk and deadpan
"She sent a letter to me only to be opened after you talked with her. Now I know what is inside… but Markus… I can sense it through the wind… when you talk of her now you do it with hatred and contempt. You need to fix your mentality before Her Majesty does it for you." Charlotte said
"Could you? Could you easily give up everything you worked for because she told you to do it?" Markus asked
"… I would have to. I am a humble servant to Her Majesty. You too served her last summer so you know how things can get. Your options are service or death. But at least service lets you live." Charlotte said
"You're going to be released in an hour. But no more outbursts like this. I'm going to read the letter and make the next arrangements. Markus… make your peace and try to enjoy these weeks until your graduation." Charlotte said before taking her leave
She went to her office and opened the letter.
"Charlotte,
In the June graduation ceremony, Markus Windbourne will graduate."
She stopped reading right there
'S-she knew! Of course she knew— and she did not even bother to admit he's a Windbourne. Now she plainly refers to it like nothing— this cannot end well…' Charlotte thought before continuing
"I am already aware of the risks surrounding him. You need not concern yourself with counselling me regarding that.
Instead what should be your focus is settling the student council he leads. The Aquabourne is my main concern but the others might look in the wrong places. You will ensure they accept his leave and focus on themselves.
After his graduation Enrique will come to collect him.
That is all." The letter read
'Does she not trust Jessica to take Markus? Does the Queen think her daughter's personal guard would defect and take Markus back to the Windbournes? Or am I just overthinking?' Charlotte thought as she closed the letter and shredded it to oblivion in a waste paper bin.
Markus was released an hour after his chat with Charlotte but as he walked the halls free, everyone had heard of his encounter.
"If it isn't the most dangerous student in the academy." Helen said as she ran into him
"Ha— it got out of hand…" Markus admitted awkwardly
"There's not a scratch on you… just what happened to you in your ascension. This is abnormal for a newly ascended expert." She said
"I don't wanna talk about it, okay?" Markus said
"No. Not okay. How did you receive your guidance?" Helen asked
"I learned to surrender okay? I gave up so thoroughly that even my thick skull thinned enough to receive the guidance. The rest happened naturally." Markus explained vaguely
"So I need to survive a damn near death zone but you get to give up and somehow get stronger?" She asked half amused
"Seems about right—" Markus said before walking away
'Or rather completely wrong—' he added inwardly
Helen followed.
"Hey Helen, how would you like to be president?" Markus asked out of the blue
"Huh!?"