"Why were we even brought here in the first place?"
"Yeah, it’s strange. Looking at the people here... I’m certain I’ve seen so of them back when I studied at the academy."
"Oh? You too?"
"Then what is this... so kind of reunion?"
"What kind of idiot plans a reunion in the middle of the night and drags people here without permission?"
Dozens of figures stood scattered across the vast training hall, their voices overlapping in restless waves.
Dim torchlight clung to the stone walls, casting long, shifting shadows that made the room feel colder than it was.
Confusion lingered on every face, irritation simring just beneath, and the sharp echo of their complaints bounced endlessly through the high ceiling.
They had all been brought here forcibly by a group of imperial guards, summoned under the authority of the Emperor himself, yet no explanation had been given.
As their murmurs grew louder, a voice suddenly cut through the noise.
"Excuse ... I demand an answer!"
The crowd stilled for a brief mont, then turned.
A beautiful woman stood at the forefront, her posture rigid, her chin lifted with defiance.
Anger burned in her eyes as she faced the line of guards before her.
"Why were we brought here in the middle of the night?" she continued, "Do you have any idea who my father is?"
She took a step forward, the faint clink of her ornants breaking the silence.
"If you don’t let out of here imdiately, even your so-called Emperor will face the wrath of my family."
The guards shifted uneasily. So exchanged quick glances, their grips on their weapons tightening just a fraction.
Behind her, two n and a girl stepped forward, their gazes equally hostile.
"Yes, you’ll be dealing with my family as well!"
"Emperor, show yourself if you have any authority at all!"
"Using power to drag people around like this... pathetic."
A ripple of surprise passed through the others.
Threatening the Emperor directly was no small matter, and yet, seeing soone take the first step ignited sothing reckless within the crowd.
Murmurs turned into voices and... Voices into demands.
Soon, the hall filled with overlapping shouts, questions thrown like stones into the void.
Amid the rising chaos, the woman allowed herself a small, satisfied smirk.
She leaned slightly toward the man beside her, her voice lowering just enough to be private.
"See? This is how you stir trouble, Mathew."
Mathew’s lips curled upward, a quiet satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. The two beside him mirrored the sa expression, watching the unrest spread exactly as intended.
The tension snapped tighter with each passing second until the guards could no longer contain the swelling crowd.
And then—
"Well, well... what a lively gathering."
The voice slipped into the hall with unsettling ease.
Every head turned. From the far end of the hall, a man stepped forward.
A skull mask concealed his face, hollow ice blue eyes staring without emotion. His hands rested behind his back as he walked with unhurried steps, each one echoing softly against the stone floor.
No face was visible, yet it did not matter.
The robes, the presence, the sheer pressure of his existence alone pressed down on the hall like an invisible force.
Behind him... stood the Emperor.
A chill ran through the crowd.
Without thought, without hesitation, they all bowed their heads at once.
"The First Supremacy!"
Aether stood still, his gaze sweeping across the gathered figures.
A faint frown touched his expression.
"Only fifty-two?"
Kaelen stepped slightly forward, "Most of them died after the first wave of the war."
Aether fell silent for a brief mont, his gaze drifting slowly over the crowd as if weighing each life in front of him. Then, a faint curve touched his lips, sothing almost amused, almost cruel.
"Well... then perhaps they must have been blessed... eheh. Lucky ones, wouldn’t you say?"
A low, wicked laugh slipped from him, echoing through the vast hall and clinging to the stone walls like a whisper that refused to die.
It did not sound loud, yet it reached everywhere, crawling into ears, into thoughts.
The crowd exchanged uneasy glances, throats tightening as they swallowed.
They did not understand why they had been brought here... and even more unsettling, why the First Supremacy himself had appeared before them.
This presence felt... different from what they saw in the engagent ceremony.
"M-My Lord Aether... can we know why we were brought here?"
The trembling voice ca again, as if even asking the question felt dangerous.
Aether tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing with a hint of curiosity.
"Oh? You don’t know?"
He began to walk, his footsteps asured, echoing softly against the stone floor. Each step seed to press down on the room, shrinking the space between breaths.
"I assud... with your experience, with your... knowledge, you might have understood by now."
No one answered.
No one even dared to shift.
Aether let out a quiet exhale, almost disappointed, and the wooden chair creaked as he said,
"I suppose being dropouts of the academy does explain it."
!!!
Dropouts.
It echoed in their minds, louder than his voice itself.
Every single person flinched, shoulders stiffening, eyes flickering with sothing they could not hide anymore.
Recognition?
Guilt?
... or Fear?
They looked at one another.
Yes.
Every person here had once walked the halls of the academy.
And every one of them had been cast out.
Then why now?
Why gather them here, all at once, after so many years?
Their lives had changed.
So had moved on.
So had buried those mories so deep they no longer felt real.
So why drag them back into it now?
Their gazes slowly lifted, drawn toward the only man who held the answer.
Aether, The First Supremacy.
The man who once seed distant, almost untouchable... now sat before them, close enough to feel.
He rested against the chair with quiet authority, yet sothing far darker seeped from him.
Killing intent?
Behind him, the Emperor stood in silence, his expression indifferent, as though the lives in this room were nothing more than passing shadows.
Aether’s fingers slowly tightened around the armrest, the faint creak of wood cutting through the silence.
When he spoke, his voice carried no warmth.
"Do you know what I hate the most in my life?"
No one dared to guess.
Aether’s gaze sharpened, locking onto the crowd.
"Bullies."
The word struck harder than before.
mories surfaced without permission.
Faces they had mocked.
Voices they had silenced.
Monts they had dismissed as nothing.
Aether leaned slightly forward, his eyes cold, his voice lowering into sothing far more dangerous.
"And if you don’t understand what that ans... let make it simple for you."
He gestured lightly, as if explaining sothing trivial.
"Bullies are nothing more than insecure brats who gather in numbers... who prey on soone weaker, quieter, defenceless..."
His hand rose, pressing lightly against his chest, his fingers curling slightly.
"So they can feel sothing they lack."
A pause.
A suffocating stillness.
"Superiority... built on nothing but their own fragile, pathetic inferiority complex."
The words sank in slowly.
Soone shifted and then another and another....
Fear had begun to take shape.
One figure stepped forward.
Of course, it was her.
The sa woman as before, though the sharp confidence she once carried now trembled at its edges.
Her jaw clenched, her voice rising slightly louder than necessary, as if trying to drown out the unease within her.
"What are you even talking about?" she snapped. "Bullies? Us?"
She let out a short, strained scoff.
"We are not bullies. Don’t throw around accusations like that."
"In fact, the academy falsely accused us... all because of so random brat who couldn’t handle reality."
Aether watched her in silence.
"Falsely accused?... Are you certain about that?"
He leaned back slightly, fingers tapping once against the armrest, a soft, deliberate sound that echoed louder than it should have and said,
"We can take this to the Elven Court."
"If it turns out to be false... You will be generously rewarded."
For a brief second, hope flickered in a few eyes.
Then—
His gaze darkened.
"But if you are wrong..."
The temperature in the hall seed to drop.
"Not only you... Your entire fucking family will bear the consequences of your irresponsible claim."
The woman’s breath caught.
The defiance shattered instantly.
Her face turned pale, lips parting, but no words ca out.
Her body moved on instinct, taking a step back, then another.
"I... I..."
Her voice broke, completely stripped of the confidence she held monts ago.
And in that silence, the weight of Aether’s presence pressed down harder than ever.
Aether only smiled, the expression faint and unreadable beneath the mask. He ignored the trembling woman entirely, as if she had already lost all relevance, and let his gaze drift across the rest of the crowd.
"I will say this once."
"I really hate bullies. I don’t care what the fuck you are or what the fuck you belong to... I don’t give a damn fuck about any of that."
His fingers tightened around the armrest.
Wood groaned and then cracked.
Thin splinters pushed outward under the sheer force of his grip.
"Just like how you didn’t give a damn fuck about the victim."
His tone sharpened, "Do you even know what they went through? Huh?"
He leaned forward slightly, the pressure in the hall intensifying.
"Because of your pathetic inferiority-superiority complex... the victim had to endure everything alone."
"They lose their sense of self... piece by piece."
"They lose their ability to trust... to love anyone."
"They lose their dignity... crushed beneath your amusent."
"Fear eats through their mind... corrodes everything they once were..."
A pause.
"And in the end..."
"They lose themselves."
"All because of your... fucking insecure bullshit."
The words pierced through the crowd one by one, like arrows sinking deep into flesh, impossible to pull out.
It was not just anger.
It was hatred.
Aether hated them.
Not just in this life... but even before.
"W-We didn’t an to..."
"I... I didn’t... I was young... I didn’t understand..."
"P-Please... no... not anymore..."
"I-I’m not like that now... I’ve changed..."
Voices broke apart into sobs, weak and desperate, spreading through the crowd like cracks in glass.
So fell to their knees.
So covered their faces.
They cried as if they were the victims now.
As if regret alone could rewrite what had already been done.
They said life had changed.
They said they had changed.
Maybe they had.
But—
"Changed?"
Aether let out a quiet, hollow laugh.
"After ruining soone’s life like it ant nothing... You changed now?"
He tilted his head slightly, the smile beneath the mask widening into sothing colder.
"Oh... how convenient."
"So that ans you should be forgiven, right? Everything wiped clean? Haha"
The laughter that escaped him carried no warmth.
Even Kaelen, standing silently behind, felt a chill crawl through his spine as he watched his father.
Aether gripped the splintered armrest tighter, fragnts digging into his palm as he leaned forward.
"That won’t do."
"You destroy soone’s life... and expect forgiveness just because ti passed?"
A faint smirk curled.
"Are you that delusional?"
No one answered.
"Rember this. You will face the consequences of your actions."
The sentence settled like a verdict.
A tremor spread through the crowd.
Sothing inevitable had begun to move toward them.
And yet—
Aether suddenly clasped his hands together, his posture relaxing, his tone shifting into sothing almost... gentle.
"Since I was cald by my wonderful wife... and I promised her I would behave... Myself"
"I’ll be generous today. All I need... is just five people."
"Huh?"
Confusion flickered across every face.
Aether tilted his head slightly, voice lowering into a quiet murmur.
"Has... anyone here heard of soone called... Penelope?"
Silence.
Then—
!
!
!
!
Four figures flinched at the exact sa mont.
It was small and... Almost unnoticeable.
But not to him.
Aether’s eyes found them instantly.
Still, he did not point them out.
Instead, he smiled.
"Hand them over..."
His voice turned soft, almost kind.
"And I will let the rest of you... live."
The words landed heavier than any threat before.
"I... I don’t know that person!"
"Yeah... P-Penelope... I’ve never heard that na before!"
"Please, I have nothing to do with that person!"
Panic spread quickly.
So shook their heads desperately.
So stepped back.
So avoided looking at anyone at all.
They understood.
The First Supremacy was not here randomly.
He was here for revenge.
Aether watched them quietly.
Then—
"Oh?"
His smile deepened beneath the mask.
"I think you didn’t hear correctly."
His voice remained gentle.
"I said I would be generous today... that doesn’t an I ca here only for those five."
He snapped his fingers.
Space twisted.
A dark portal tore open before their eyes, swirling with unnatural depth.
From within it... Sothing massive began to move.
A humongous white snake slithered out slowly, its scales gleaming under the dim light, its presence swallowing the air itself.
The ground seed to tremble beneath its weight.
Every face turned pale.
So stumbled backwards.
So froze completely.
"Heheh..."
Aether leaned forward slightly, resting his chin against his clasped hands.
"I’ll ask you all once more."
"Give them to ..."
A brief pause.
"And I will let you live."
He tilted his head just slightly.
"And I truly hope... You all walk out of this hall..."
"Alive."
A shiver ran through every single person.
Their eyes locked onto him... onto Aether, the First Supremacy.
The man was once thought to be innocent and even gentle.
Now—
"Hehe~"
He looked like a devil sitting upon judgnt.
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