Chapter 191: Crisis in the Unveiling Party Part -- Three

"We are back live!"

The two hosts spoke energetically from outside Grandus Castle Hall. Behind them, many of the guests who had temporarily left the hall were now gathered once again, standing around the stone courtyard with eager expressions as they waited for the duel to begin.

The tense atmosphere that had filled the hall earlier had completely disappeared.

Confusion had turned into excitement.

What had started as a shocking interruption had somehow become the highlight of the entire unveiling party.

"Although we experienced a rather unbelievable twist involving the identity of the Sixth Ranker,"

The male host said with a bright smile as he gestured toward the large open area prepared for the spar.

"To shorten the explanation, the Elders have already reached a solution."

He pointed toward the two boys standing several meters apart.

"And now we are about to witness a duel between both individuals claiming to be the true Sixth Ranker of the Trial of Steel!"

The female host nodded enthusiastically.

"Honestly, I don’t think anyone expected today’s unveiling party to turn into something like this."

She laughed softly.

"But I don’t think anyone is complaining either."

Behind them, servants hurriedly adjusted the broadcasting equipment while photographers positioned themselves for better angles.

Every camera lens was pointed toward the center of the courtyard.

Toward the twins.

***

Inside the live comment section, messages flowed faster than anyone could properly read.

’Wait... are those two actually twins?’

Green_Alchemist

’They really do look alike.’

I’m_Pink

’The Ashenlocke family almost had their unveiling party ruined and somehow it became even more entertaining.’

Stark_Drake

’GLORY TO ASHENLOCKE!!!’

Gena_0977

’Lady Vera is here! My queen looks beautiful today!’

Queen_Vera1000

’Is it just me or does the one on the left look cuter?’

Anonymous_682

’Why is a Drake in the comments section?’

Flame_00

’I should be asking the same thing, Burnwick.’

Stark_Drake

’Just checking on my future Royal Academy rival.’

Flame_00

***

Back inside the hall.

Not everyone cared enough to leave their seats.

Several candidates preferred watching from the comfort of the upper floor where the enormous viewing screens displayed everything happening outside.

"Hey, Priscilla."

Nate leaned back comfortably in his chair.

The sounds of the orchestra continued drifting through the hall, creating a strange contrast with the duel everyone was anticipating outside.

"Yeah?"

Priscilla replied lazily.

She didn’t even bother turning her head.

Her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling.

"Why aren’t you watching the fight?"

Nate asked.

Priscilla crossed one leg over the other.

"Because I already know who’s going to win."

Her answer came immediately.

"And I’m not interested in another person’s family drama."

"Fair."

Nate shrugged.

"What about you then?"

Priscilla finally glanced toward him.

Nate looked just as uninterested.

"Same reason."

He yawned.

"I already know who’s going to win."

A brief silence followed.

Then...

Priscilla suddenly smiled faintly.

"Though..."

Her eyes moved toward the screen.

"I am curious how badly Ezra is going to beat him."

Nate nearly laughed.

The two exchanged looks.

Then both of them turned toward another direction.

Toward Felix.

Felix still sat silently.

One hand supported his cheek while his elbow rested against the armrest.

From the outside, he appeared calm, but anyone paying attention could see the stiffness in his posture.

The tightness around his eyes.

The irritation hidden beneath that expression.

Both Nate and Priscilla immediately remembered the humiliation Felix suffered during the Trial.

Their shoulders trembled slightly.

Holding back laughter was becoming difficult.

***

Outside.

A guard stood between Ezra and Zara.

He carefully explained the rules of the duel while thousands watched.

Ezra listened quietly.

His dark eyes settled on the boy standing opposite him.

The person called his twin brother.

Yet when he looked at Zara now...

There was nothing left.

No attachment, no resentment, no sadness.

His eyes simply observed him.

The same way one might observe a stranger.

Across from him, Zara’s expression looked completely different.

Hatred.

Jealousy.

Frustration.

All of it was visible.

How did this bastard survive?

The thought kept repeating inside his head.

His fists slowly tightened.

Well...

That doesn’t matter anymore.

How dare he come here and try to steal everything from me?

The anger inside Zara continued growing.

"Hey, Ezra."

He cracked his knuckles one after another.

A smug smile spread across his face.

The referee was still speaking.

Yet Zara no longer cared.

"Doesn’t this remind you of the old times?"

He spread his arms proudly.

"Back when Father forced us to spar even though he knew the outcome."

His grin widened.

"The same times where I beat your useless body into a pulp every single time."

Several guests frowned hearing those words.

Others exchanged uncomfortable looks.

Then...

Zara suddenly raised his voice.

"Lady Vera!"

He turned toward the platform where Vera sat beside Valentin.

His back straightened immediately.

"I’ll show you today just how much better I am than my brother!"

His voice echoed across the courtyard.

The broadcasters quickly focused their cameras on him.

"I may not have attended the Trial of Steel!"

Zara proudly pointed at himself.

"But ever since birth, I’ve always been the more talented twin!"

He pointed toward Ezra.

"And this trash has always been beneath me!"

The crowd reacted immediately.

Some whispered with excitement.

Others frowned at the prideful attitude.

The confidence in Zara’s words was obvious.

Yet for some reason...

The more he spoke, the less convincing he sounded.

"I, Zara Sterling!"

He spread both arms dramatically.

"Will show the whole of Britannia what a true genius looks like!"

The cameras zoomed closer.

The hosts exchanged excited looks.

"Oh!"

The female host clapped her hands.

"Looks like Zara is already throwing out challenges!"

The male host laughed.

"He certainly sounds confident."

He turned toward her.

"But can he actually back up those words?"

"Hmmm..."

The female host rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"We’re about to find out."

She pointed toward the battlefield.

At that exact moment...

The referee stepped backward.

His hand dropped sharply.

"FIGHT!"

The duel officially began.

"Now I’ll remind you who the real golden child is!"

Cognis erupted from Zara’s body.

A faint white glow sparked around his arms and legs as he launched himself forward.

The stone tiles beneath his feet cracked slightly.

"TAKE THIS, TRASH!"

His fist tightened with the Cognis enhancing his strength.

The punch shot toward Ezra’s face.

Fast.

Direct.

Aggressive.

Yet...

Ezra didn’t move.

He simply stood there.

No stance.

No preparation.

No visible concern.

I knew it.

Zara’s grin widened.

He’s frozen.

Just like always.

He’s still the same coward.

Victory flashed through Zara’s mind.

The crowd held their breath.

The punch reached Ezra.

Then...

Ezra finally moved.

A simple movement.

One hand rose lightly, almost casually.

His palm brushed against Zara’s attacking arm.

Nothing more.

The world flipped.

Zara’s vision spun violently.

The sky became the ground.

The ground became the sky.

"Eh?"

His eyes widened.

A second later...

BOOM!

His body slammed face-first into the stone pavement.

Dust exploded outward.

The entire courtyard froze with silence.

Complete silence.

"What just happened?!"

Both hosts shouted simultaneously.

The live comments exploded.

The guests stared with disbelief.

Even many Binder-rank Alchemists looked confused.

None of them had properly seen what Ezra had done.

The movement had been too simple.

Too clean.

Too efficient.

Even the Elders exchanged glances.

Valentin narrowed his eyes slightly.

For perhaps the first time today, genuine interest appeared within them.

"He only touched his opponent lightly, and the next thing we saw was Zara going down."

Valentin spoke in a deep, thoughtful tone. His legs remained crossed, one hand supporting his cheek while his elbow rested against the armrest of his chair. His expression was still as calm as ever, but there was now a trace of focus in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

"It looks like he used his opponent’s own strength against him."

Vera added calmly.

She glanced at her father for a moment, but Valentin didn’t look back at her.

His gaze remained fixed on Ezra.

For someone like Valentin, whose attention was rarely captured by anything, that alone spoke volumes.

The excitement among the crowd immediately increased.

The nobles watching outside began whispering among themselves.

The people still seated inside the hall leaned forward in their chairs, staring at the giant screens displaying the duel.

Even several experienced Alchemists frowned deeply.

They had seen Ezra move.

But understanding exactly what he did was another matter entirely.

At the front of the crowd, Lucy blinked several times.

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over her.

That movement...

That smooth redirection...

It reminded her of something Ezra had casually done to her before.

Except now, seeing it used on another person who wasn’t her made it look even stranger.

"Ah... Ah... Wha... What happened to me?"

Zara pushed himself off the ground.

His nose hurt.

His jaw hurt.

His entire body felt as though it had collided with a wall.

The problem was...

He couldn’t remember hitting anything.

Across from him, Ezra casually stretched his arms and shoulders.

His movements looked relaxed.

Almost bored.

"What are you doing, Zara?!"

Zavier suddenly shouted from the audience.

His voice echoed loudly across the courtyard.

"Stop wasting time and fight properly!"

He pointed angrily toward the battlefield.

Even Zavier himself had no idea what had just happened.

The entire exchange looked so ridiculous that he had convinced himself Zara must have simply slipped while attacking.

The alternative was far worse.

That Ezra had actually thrown him down that easily.

Zara shook his head aggressively.

"No... No..."

He bounced lightly on his feet.

Adjusting his shoulders.

Adjusting his stance.

Trying to regain his confidence.

"I don’t know what happened..."

His eyes narrowed.

"But this time, I’m going to end you!"

He rushed forward again.

His feet hammered against the stone tiles.

His fists shot forward repeatedly.

Left, Right.

Left, Right.

Heavy punches came flying toward Ezra’s face and body.

Yet Ezra simply moved.

One small step backward.

One shift to the side.

A slight lean.

A small turn of his waist.

Every punch missed.

The movements weren’t flashy, they weren’t fast enough to leave afterimages.

Yet somehow Zara couldn’t touch him.

The punches cut through empty air over and over again.

"Haha!"

Zara laughed mockingly.

"You can’t even attack me!"

He continued throwing punches.

His confidence slowly returned as he convinced himself Ezra was simply avoiding him.

"You slippery trash!"

His eyes became more vicious.

"Stay in one place and die!"

His body suddenly twisted.

Instead of another punch, he launched a heavy kick toward Ezra’s ribs.

The kick carried enough force to crack a stone slightly.

"Got you!"

A victorious grin appeared on Zara’s face.

Then...

"Eh?"

His vision flipped upside down again.

The sky became the ground.

The ground became the sky.

His brain completely failed to process what had happened.

BOOM!

His body slammed against the stone tiles.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Pain spread through his back.

His lungs burned.

His head spun.

For several seconds, Zara simply lay there trying to understand reality.

How?

How did I fall again?

The crowd exploded into noise.

"What was that?"

"Did anyone see it?"

"He threw him again!"

"No, that’s impossible!"

The discussions spread like wildfire.

Even some Binder Rank Alchemists were still struggling to follow the exchange.

Meanwhile, Zara slowly lifted his head.

Then he froze.

Ezra was already standing beside him.

Bent slightly at the waist.

Looking directly into his eyes.

Those dark eyes stared at him quietly.

Without anger, without excitement, without mockery.

And somehow that made them even more frightening.

"Ho..."

Zara’s throat moved.

"How did you fall?"

Ezra asked flatly.

The question nearly made several spectators laugh.

Zara himself froze.

For a brief second, he felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Around them, the crowd couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The same thing had happened twice.

And neither time had Zara understood how.

"Zara."

Ezra’s voice came out cold and calm.

"Get up."

He stepped back, then slowly raised his hands.

His body settled into a Tai Chi stance.

The posture immediately attracted the attention of several Alchemists who specialized in martial combat.

Their eyes widened.

Some even stood up slightly from their seats.

"The spar is only beginning."

Ezra calmly curled four fingers toward himself.

Inviting Zara forward.

The gesture was simple.

Yet it instantly ignited the atmosphere.

The crowd erupted into cheers.

People stood from their seats.

The online viewers spammed comments faster than they could be read.

Even though the fight was completely one-sided...

Nobody found it boring.

The opposite.

Ezra’s fighting style was unlike anything they normally saw.

No wasted movement.

No shouting.

No flashy attacks.

Only clean execution.

Zara gritted his teeth with his entire face twisting in pure rage.

To him, it felt as though the whole of Britannia was laughing.

Every cheer sounded like mockery.

Every excited shout sounded directed at him.

This has to be a dream.

It has to be.

His fists trembled, then tightened.

"YOU TRASH!"

Cognis surged from his body again.

The pressure spread outward as he charged.

His face was red with anger.

His fist shot toward Ezra’s face.

Fast and direct.

Filled with everything he had.

But the moment it entered Ezra’s range...

Everything happened in an instant.

Ezra’s hand moved.

Grab!

His fingers wrapped around Zara’s wrist.

The punch stopped completely.

Zara’s eyes widened.

Before he could react, Ezra lifted the captured arm upward.

At the same time, he stepped forward.

His back slid smoothly in front of Zara’s chest.

His hips rotated.

His center of gravity dropped.

Then...

Using Zara’s own momentum...

Ezra pulled.

The world spun.

BOOM!

A perfect judo throw.

Zara’s body flew over Ezra’s shoulder and slammed violently into the ground.

Dust exploded into the air.

The stone tiles cracked slightly beneath the impact.

Zara landed flat on his back.

For a moment, the entire courtyard became silent again, because many had finally seen it clearly.

This wasn’t luck.

This wasn’t Zara slipping.

Ezra was dismantling him completely.

Fueled by rage and enhanced by Cognis, Zara suddenly forced himself back to his feet.

His muscles tightened.

The veins around his neck bulged.

The humiliation, the cheers from the crowd, the looks of disappointment and ridicule that seemed to come from every direction had completely drowned out whatever reason he had left.

With a roar, he threw himself toward Ezra again.

Grab!

Ezra’s palm shot forward.

The movement was so simple that many spectators almost missed it.

His hand slammed directly onto Zara’s nose and face, covering most of his features in a single motion.

At the same time, his other hand caught Zara’s wrist.

The difference between the two was immediately displayed.

One was fighting through anger.

The other was completely calm.

Before Zara could even react, Ezra shifted his footing.

His body turned.

The arm holding Zara’s wrist pulled backward.

The hand on Zara’s face pushed forward.

For a brief moment, Zara’s entire body rose from the ground.

Like a pendulum being pulled to its furthest point.

Then...

BOOM!

Ezra swung him downward.

Zara’s face smashed into the stone pavement.

Cracks spread across the surface.

Dust exploded into the air.

The crowd winced.

Several people instinctively touched their own noses.

That looked painful.

"Argh!"

Zara struggled.

His hands pushed against the ground, his body trembled as he forced himself up again, his vision spun violently.

The world around him refused to stay still.

But before he could properly regain his balance...

His feet left the ground again.

Boom!

The courtyard shook.

His back slammed flat against the stone floor.

The air rushed out of his lungs.

Again.

Boom!

Again.

Boom!

Again.

The sequence repeated itself over and over.

The spectators gradually fell silent.

At first, many had expected an intense battle between two brothers.

Instead, what they were witnessing looked like an older martial arts master disciplining an unruly child.

Blood slowly began dripping from Zara’s nose, then from the corner of his mouth.

His cheeks became swollen.

His back felt as though it had shattered several times over.

His skull rang from repeatedly striking the ground.

Every impact seemed heavier than the last.

The embarrassing part wasn’t merely losing.

It was the complete lack of resistance.

No matter what Zara attempted.

No matter how fiercely he charged.

No matter how much strength he put into his attacks.

Ezra simply redirected him and threw him down again.

Some nobles couldn’t help laughing.

Others looked away out of pity.

Several young nobles who had once envied Zara now stared with awkward expressions.

Even they felt a little bad for him.

A little.

"That’s enough..."

One noble muttered.

"I’m beginning to feel sorry for him."

"Sorry?"

His friend snorted.

"After everything we just heard?"

"Fair point."

Not far away, Zavier could only stare.

His mouth hung slightly open.

His eyes had completely lost focus.

The confidence he carried earlier had long disappeared.

Everything he believed would happen today had collapsed.

One piece after another.

The unveiling.

The recognition.

The future he imagined for Zara.

All of it had shattered before his eyes.

The nobles who had once gathered around him earlier in the evening now avoided him completely.

Some even openly looked at him with disdain.

"Imagine sacrificing the talented child."

"How greedy."

"How blind."

"The fool ruined his own future."

The whispers reached his ears one after another.

Each one felt like another knife twisting deeper into his chest.

Eventually...

Zavier dropped to his knees.

His shoulders slumped.

For the first time since this began, he looked defeated.

Completely defeated.

Back on the battlefield, Zara’s breathing had become ragged.

His chest rose and fell heavily, his vision slowly blurred.

The faces in the crowd no longer looked clear.

Only vague shapes remained.

I’m losing?

The thought appeared in his head, then it appeared again.

I...

His fingers trembled.

I, Zara...

The golden child.

The chosen son.

The talented one.

I’m losing...

To him?

To this trash?

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

His thoughts became chaotic.

The reality before him refused to match the image he had built his entire life around.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

A scream exploded from his throat.

Cognis surged wildly from his body.

The air around him trembled.

The nearby spectators immediately felt the change.

"He’s a Novice Rank Alchemist."

Gareth muttered while watching from above the balcony outside with folded arms.

The revelation wasn’t surprising.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

Not after what everyone had already seen.

"But..."

He sighed.

His gaze shifted toward Ezra.

"It’s still meaningless."

Zara’s Cognis erupted around him like a storm.

His eyes turned bloodshot.

His hatred poured out without restraint.

I’m going to crush him.

I’m going to use my Cognis presence.

I’m going to make him kneel.

I’m going to...

His thoughts stopped.

Because Ezra suddenly tilted his head.

"Zara."

His voice was calm.

Cold.

The moment the word left his mouth...

A chill swept through Zara’s body.

The temperature hadn’t changed.

No visible attack had happened.

Yet Zara froze.

Completely.

His body became stiff like wood, his fingers stopped moving, his legs refused to obey him, his breathing became shallow.

I...

His eyes widened.

I can’t move?

Fear.

Pure fear.

The emotion swallowed everything else.

The hatred.

The anger.

The pride.

All of it vanished.

Only fear remained.

His body began trembling uncontrollably.

The same feeling.

The exact same feeling.

The feeling he experienced in Zavier’s office when Ezra had returned from the Trial.

At that time, he thought it was his imagination.

Now he knew it wasn’t.

I’m scared.

The realization hit him harder than any throw.

His knees nearly gave out.

He wanted to collapse.

He wanted to run.

He wanted to look away.

But he couldn’t do any of it.

His body no longer belonged to him.

Without realizing it, warmth spread down his leg.

His trousers became wet.

Yet he didn’t even notice.

Because Ezra’s eyes remained locked onto him.

"Have you ever killed somebody before?"

Ezra asked.

His tone remained flat.

No threat.

No shouting.

No anger.

Yet the question struck Zara harder than any punch.

His lips trembled.

His mouth opened.

No sound came out.

Not a single word.

The crowd had become completely silent.

Nobody understood what was happening between the boys.

They only saw Zara standing there shaking uncontrollably, like prey trapped before a predator.

Ezra blinked once and the pressure vanished.

Instantly.

Like it had never existed.

The invisible weight crushing Zara disappeared.

His body lost all support.

Thud.

He collapsed onto the ground.

Flat, stiff and motionless.

Like a man who had been struck by lightning.

The entire courtyard remained silent.

Nobody cheered.

Nobody spoke.

Because for the first time during the spar...

They realized something.

Ezra hadn’t been fighting seriously.

Not even once.

Meanwhile... in all of this action occurring, Veda, Nickolas and Cole were inside a room assigned for Veda, the Young lord to stay in, until they introduced him.

So, he didn’t know what was even going on.