Chương 102: CHAPTER 100: THE SOVEREIGN OF PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY

The thick clouds of sulfur dust and pressurized air drifted slowly through the shattered entrance, catching the pale blue light of the alchemical lanterns. Fragments of the massive iron doors lay scattered across the flagstones like torn parchment. The stone archway, built from ancient granite, was cracked and scorched black around the torn hinge sockets. Professor Vane stood firmly amidst the debris. His long, gold-embroidered robes fluttered as his magical aura flared with violent intensity.

In his right hand, he clutched a heavy golden scepter topped with a faceted red blood-ruby, which pulsed with rhythmic waves of concentrated fire mana. Behind him, twelve elite Academy wardens fanned out in a tight tactical semicircle. Their enchanted iron pikes crackled with arcs of blue suppressive lightning, and their heavy disruption shields formed a solid wall of glowing magical barrier force.

"You have five seconds to step away from that examination slab and drop to your knees!" Vane shouted, his voice echoing sharply off the high stone ceiling.

"Your appointment is an absolute disgrace to the high nobility of this empire! You are nothing more than an unranked border scavenger practicing illegal biological desecration under our sacred spires!" Near the front workstations, the fifteen noble students scrambled backward in sheer terror. They dragged their stools across the stone, pressing their backs against the north wall to avoid the direct line of magical discharge.

Lord Vaelen stood among them, his face pale and his hands shaking as he kept his fingers hovering near his barrier rings. Near the rear basalt pillars, the five commoner scholarship students did not retreat. They lowered their stances, their eyes locked intently on the masked figure standing behind the central steel table. Shin did not move an inch. He stood perfectly upright behind the gleaming examination slab.

His dark traveler coat hung straight down to his boots, undisturbed by the hot draft blowing through the doorway. His featureless white porcelain mask stared coldly at the angry professor, reflecting the golden light of the scepter without a hint of fear. Hovering just above his left shoulder, the tiny chibi companion crossed her little arms and puffed out her cheeks, her cyan eyes glowing with pure indignation.

"The absolute arrogance of this gold-plated bird!" she whispered into Shin's ear.

"Marching into a clean laboratory with muddy boots and blowing dust all over your freshly sterilized workspace!" Abe saale... Rudra thought, feeling a cold, sharp irritation rising behind his mask. These high-tower academic frauds really think screaming long titles and waving expensive sticks gives them absolute authority over life and death. He just destroyed a perfectly good pair of reinforced iron doors that took hours to seal.

"You have breached an active Sovereign operating theater," Shin said, his voice flat, low, and completely steady.

"Leave the lower level immediately, or your presence will be logged as hazardous biological refuse."

"Insolent dog!" Vane shrieked, his face twisting into a mask of pure fury.

"I am a Senior Arch-Mage of the High Senate! I will reduce your flesh and bones to liquid slag!" Vane thrust his golden scepter forward with both hands. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A massive surge of corrosive green mana erupted from the glowing ruby at its tip.

The mana twisted into a violent, high-pressure cyclone of Acidic Dragon-Bile—a vicious, high-tier corrosive spell designed to melt through solid plate armor, vaporize organic flesh, and dissolve defensive mana barriers in a fraction of a second. The stream of glowing green acid roared across the laboratory floor. The heavy stone tiles beneath the stream hissed, cracked, and melted into bubbling sludge as the deadly torrent surged straight toward Shin's chest.

"Doctor, get back!" one of the commoner students shouted in panic. Shin did not cast a defensive barrier. He did not jump aside. With a calm, practiced motion, his right hand dipped into the small leather pouch strapped to his belt. His fingers grabbed a handful of coarse gray powder—the basic alkaline ash he had ground from dried mountain roots just an hour earlier. With a sharp, whipping snap of his wrist, Shin threw the gray powder directly into the roaring core of the incoming acid wave.

The instant the alkaline dust struck the corrosive mana stream, a violent chemical reaction ignited in mid-air. PSHHHHHH! A massive, blinding explosion of thick white steam burst across the room. The lethal green acid lost its structural mana density within a split second. The highly corrosive liquid neutralized instantly, transforming into a harmless spray of warm, brackish water that splashed softly against Shin's charcoal coat and dripped harmlessly to the stone floor.

Before the dense cloud of white vapor could even begin to thin, Shin moved. His boots crossed twenty feet of wet stone in the blink of an eye. Thanks to his Absolute Biological Immunity, the hot, stinging fumes hanging in the air had zero effect on his lungs, eyes, or nervous system. He cut through the dense steam like a dark phantom, appearing directly in front of Professor Vane before the arch-mage could even process that his spell had failed.

Vane's eyes widened in suffocating, animal terror as the blank white porcelain mask materialized inches from his face.

"Wha—" Shin did not give him time to breathe. His dark-iron prosthetic hand shot forward like a heavy mechanical piston, locking directly around Vane's throat with crushing, unbreakable precision. The golden scepter slipped from the professor's limp fingers, clattering loudly against the broken stones. The twelve armored wardens gasped in horror, raising their crackling lightning pikes to strike, but Shin's iron grip did not waver for a single moment.

Channeling the raw kinetic force resting within his prosthetic arm, Shin pivoted smoothly on his right heel. He hoisted the full-grown arch-mage completely off the ground with one arm, using Vane's own momentum against him. With a brutal, effortless swing, Shin threw Professor Vane straight through the ruined doorway. CRASH! Vane's body flew through the air like a discarded sack of flour, slamming violently into the front rank of armored wardens.

The impact knocked four heavily geared soldiers off their feet, sending the entire group tumbling backward into the corridor. They rolled violently up the first flight of the spiral stone stairs in a chaotic tangle of broken pikes, dented shields, and screaming men. Shin took three slow, deliberate steps toward the broken threshold. He looked down at the groaning pile of bruised guards and the terrified professor clutching his throat on the stone steps.

"The next person who disrupts my operating floor without a signed dissection permit," Shin announced, his voice carrying the cold finality of an executioner's blade, "will be laid out on that steel slab and opened while still breathing." The remaining wardens scrambled in blind panic. They grabbed their choking, trembling dean by his torn velvet robes and dragged him desperately up the spiral stairs, fleeing toward the safety of the upper plazas as fast as their boots could carry them.

Shin turned back into the laboratory. His dark coat settled cleanly around his knees as he walked past the scorched stones and the shattered door frames. He returned to his position behind the central steel table. The silence in the vast stone room was absolute. All twenty students stood completely paralyzed, their breaths caught in their throats. The noble heirs, including Lord Vaelen, stared at Shin with wide, pale eyes, their lifelong arrogance completely shattered.

They had just watched a high-ranking Senior Arch-Mage get neutralized and physically thrown out like garbage with a single hand, without the masked instructor even chanting a single spell or breaking a sweat. The five commoner students looked at the central workstation, their eyes shining with deep, unshakeable respect. Shin's Sovereign authority was no longer just a piece of paper signed by Director Vivienne. It was carved permanently into the stone floor of the room.

The chibi companion drifted down from the vaulted ceiling, settling lightly onto Shin's right shoulder with a broad, triumphant grin on her tiny face. Shin looked across the twenty stunned, silent faces staring back at him. With a smooth flick of his wrist, he picked up a fresh, gleaming silver scalpel from his tool roll and drove the blade straight into the wooden workbench with a clean, sharp impact. THUNK. The polished metal vibrated softly beneath the cold blue light.

Shin looked directly at his students through the narrow slits of his white porcelain mask.

"Class has officially begun."