Chương 19: Cecilia's Pride

I saw Mira getting engulfed by Cecilia's attack, which brought me a little relief and finally stopped my body from trembling. Finally, she was taking things seriously. The Rosenkreuz bloodline shared the blood of a dragon, but that didn't mean everyone awakened the same power, as the nature of the dragon's power remained tied to the fire element while the skills and abilities depended on the quantity of inheritance.

The power one inherited from the bloodline determined the kind of abilities they could awaken, and that was why even siblings from the same family could possess completely different strengths with the same element as the base. Even the elders looked a little satisfied despite their obvious hatred toward Cecilia, although maybe it wasn't satisfaction exactly but rather appreciation for the power she wielded.

But when the dust surrounding Mira started to settle, I almost cursed because she was standing there completely unharmed. How had she protected herself from an attack like that? That was something I couldn't understand since I hadn't sensed any mana moving at all. Judging by Cecilia's dumbfounded expression, even she hadn't expected Mira to come out of that attack unscathed.

"How?" she asked, still unable to understand what had happened.

"You see, the thing you said about me paying the price for my arrogance wasn't quite correct." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"I wasn't going to pay the price for something like that because I wasn't arrogant in the first place, and I knew exactly what I was capable of. You just hadn't seen it yet." Then she started walking slowly toward Cecilia, and I couldn't help but think that if this were an anime, I would've been sure this was gonna be an aura-farming moment. Once Mira stood face-to-face with Cecilia, she looked down at her since she was taller, which made the scene even more intimidating.

Then, all of a sudden, Mira's body began emitting energy that was visible to the naked eye, and the moment I saw it, I simply stopped breathing. Good god, we're both gonna die. It was a red-coloured aura, but it wasn't just any ordinary aura. That was the Hollow Gift. A legendary-rank ability. As soon as Mira released her aura, most of the elders stood up with ugly expressions on their faces before leaving the room, leaving only Elder Charlotte and Elder Edmund behind. Mira continued speaking.

"You see, dear Cecilia, I didn't just challenge you out of nowhere. I challenged you because I knew you wouldn't stand a chance against me." She tilted her head slightly.

"I could have said the same about your brother and sister, but unlike them, you were simply too weak to defend your worth." A smile slowly spread across her face, reaching all the way to her eyes, and then she spoke again.

"Now you have to pay the price for your arrogance." Then Mira attacked. Her spear, now covered in red aura, moved toward Cecilia with terrifying speed, and before the impact, Cecilia quickly raised her sword to block the attack. But the force behind Mira's strike was so overwhelming that Cecilia was lifted off the ground and thrown across the battlefield before slamming into the wall with a heavy thud. BOOM!

Blood spilled from her mouth as she slid down the wall and fell to the ground, and disbelief covered her face.

(Cecilia's POV) Cecilia looked at the red aura surrounding Mira. She knew it was the Hollow Gift, a curse that only a small minority of humans were born with. It prevented them from wielding mana like normal humans. Instead, they created aura by using their will. Aura was one of the strongest forms of energy. No one had ever fully determined how it worked, but it was capable of making its wielder stronger, sometimes even surpassing mana. However, the Hollow Gift wasn't exclusive to them.

Normal humans who wielded mana could also wield aura. The difference between the aura wielded by normal humans and those with the Hollow Gift was so vast that the former couldn't even be compared to the latter. Normal humans possessed blue aura, which meant it was mixed with mana. But the aura of someone with the Hollow Gift was red. Yet, as Cecilia looked at Mira's aura, she became certain that it wasn't truly red. It might have appeared that way, but Mira's dragon blood was resonating with the aura.

Mira's body blurred. Cecilia moved on instinct, raising her sword above her head. Clang! The spearhead struck her sword.

"Now don't get defeated so easily, Cecilia," Mira said.

"After all, when I tell others the story of how I became the third person ever to win the Trial of Worth, my story better be at least comparable to those of the previous two winners." Mira's spearhead blurred again as she attacked from Cecilia's left. Cecilia raised her sword and blocked the strike once more.

"Don't you agree with me?" The two exchanged several more attacks while Cecilia continued struggling to get back on her feet. But Mira didn't give her any chance to recover. The blade of Cecilia's sword was now completely engulfed in flames. She swung it above her head in a circular motion. A gust of fire burst from the attack, twisting into a small tornado that rushed toward Mira. The attack forced Mira to retreat, giving Cecilia the brief moment she needed to get back on her feet.

At this rate, I'm going to lose, and that will be nothing more than a death sentence for me. I already have an enemy within the family, and I don't even know who it is. But where did someone like her even come from? I didn't know anyone in our family had been born with the Hollow Gift. Something like that would have been announced for sure. The fact that no one knew about her until now meant someone in the family had been deliberately suppressing the information. Perhaps only the elders knew.

But if that was the case, then why had they allowed her to participate in the trial at all? It doesn't make sense. Someone with the Hollow Gift shouldn't have any reason to fight me. The only advantage the main family has over the branch families is the dragon blood ability, which comes from our lineage. That ability is the foundation of our hierarchy. That's why no one has ever won the trial in the first place. And that's the only reason the trial was even allowed to take place.

Could this also be a trap set by the person who wants me dead? I can't help but think about it. Cecilia's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden tingling sensation coming from her right. She reacted instantly, using a blast of fire beneath her feet to propel herself out of the attack's path. The attack struck the spot where Cecilia had been standing moments earlier. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. BOOM!

The ground shattered under the force of the impact, and chunks of earth were sent flying in every direction.

"It looks like you've figured out that you don't stand a chance against me. For your ability to work on me, it has to touch me. But with the aura coating my entire body, forget about that happening unless you have an overwhelmingly large mana pool." Mira raised a hand to her mouth, hiding a faint smile behind her fingers.

"But wait a second. Aren't you the only person in the entire family born with the smallest mana pool? You can't even use the second bloodline ability."

"The black sheep of the Rosenkreuz family," Mira mocked, her smile widening.

"Now, let me show you what true strength looks like." With those words, Mira began moving her spear. It moved far too quickly for Cecilia to follow. The weapon blurred until even half of its shaft became impossible to see. Then, all of a sudden, numerous spears began appearing in the air around Mira. There were too many to count, and each one was covered in the same red aura. Mira looked directly at Cecilia.

"Try defending against this." She raised her spear.

"Spear Technique: First Form, One Hundred Thrusts." All the spears moved at once. Their speed was so incredible that if Cecilia had moved even a fraction of a second too late, her torso would have been torn apart. She moved from one position to another, dodging, deflecting, and avoiding the incoming spears. Each thrust carried tremendous force. The destruction spreading throughout the area was immense. The earth shattered with every impact, and the surrounding ground was torn apart for several meters.

Yet Mira continued her assault without stopping. Cecilia's sword blade had grown so hot that it began to melt. She gritted her teeth, continuing to evade the attacks with every ounce of focus and concentration she could muster. Then she looked directly at Mira and slammed her flaming sword into the ground.

"Enough!" A wave of fire erupted from the impact, engulfing the entire area. The flames surged outward, swallowing the spears and suppressing Mira's relentless assault. Before the fire could reach the Elders, Elder Edmund waved his hand. A powerful force swept through the area, extinguishing the flames in an instant. Mira's spear had melted, and burn marks covered the hand that had been holding it. Yet, despite the damage, she still looked perfectly fine.

"Tch." Mira clicked her tongue, looking annoyed. She glanced at Cecilia, whose sword had now melted beyond any possible use. Mira's palm, which had been gripping the spear, was burned. The sleeve of that arm had been completely scorched from her hand all the way up to her neck, but her arm itself remained unharmed. Cecilia was out of breath. Her small mana pool prevented her from using any of her bloodline abilities other than the first.

Even using that ability repeatedly placed a considerable strain on her mana reserves. This attack had already taken a great deal out of her, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could continue fighting. I should have figured out what kind of ability the dragon gifted me. She had spent days trying to discover her ability, but the dragon hadn't told her anything or given her even the slightest hint about what it was. If I knew what my ability was and how to use it, I might have been able to win this trial.

But her current situation didn't look promising.

"I think I might have underestimated you a little." Cecilia looked back at Mira.

"Truth be told, I wasn't expecting this match to last this long. I wanted to end it as quickly as possible." Mira glanced at her burned palm.

"But perhaps I was being a little arrogant. There is a reason the members of the main family stand above the rest." She shifted her gaze toward Elder Edmund, then toward Cecilia's butler, who, for some reason, was watching her with cold, lifeless eyes.

"I think it's time to end this. The longer this fight drags on, the more annoying it becomes." Mira tightened her grip.

"If I can't win with this attack, then I won't be winning anyway." Cecilia had a bad feeling about what was coming. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened. Mira took a stance, and an image overlapped her figure. Someone Cecilia recognized. Someone she hated with every fiber of her being. An intense anger rose from within her. How dare she remind me of her? How dare she...? The flames surrounding Cecilia suddenly spiraled out of control.

They engulfed her body, growing hotter and hotter until the heat could be felt all the way to where Elders were sitting.

"At this rate, she might die," Elder Charlotte said to Edmund.

"It'll save me the trouble of killing her myself, if she loses."

"Are you sure we shouldn't report this trial to the lord?"

"Sebastian knows about it, and so does the lady. They agreed to this, so there's no need to bother the lord with such unnecessary matters. You already know he doesn't like her. The only reason he lets her live, even after that accident, is because of the lady. And don't worry about it. I won't let her die until the trial ends." The temperature continued to rise. Even the ground beneath Cecilia's feet began to melt. Mira watched the scene with fascination.

"What incredible power." But then her expression turned cold.

"I can't help but envy your strength." Mira's body blurred. In the next instant, she appeared directly in front of the raging fire tornado. She clenched both hands into fists. The red aura covering her entire body began to flow toward her fists. As the aura left her body, the protection it provided disappeared, and the intense heat immediately began burning her exposed skin. The aura gathered around her fists, taking on a strange, liquid-like form.

Parts of Mira's body had already begun turning black, but she neither stopped nor hesitated. She continued drawing the aura out of her body until none remained.

"Hollow Gift: First Form, Annihilation." The red aura erupted. A massive wave of destructive energy spread across the battlefield, tearing through everything in its path. The earth was obliterated for hundreds of meters, and the surrounding landscape was consumed by the overwhelming force of the attack. Mira's body finally collapsed to the ground. She gasped for breath, writhing in pain. Her right hand had turned completely black.

"Finally, it's over." Elder Edmund and Charlotte approached Mira. Neither of the two appeared happy or disappointed by Mira's victory.

"It hasn't ended yet." Everyone turned toward the voice, including Mira, and the moment she looked at Edwin's face, an overwhelming sense of fear seized her. It was a fear so profound that she felt as though she were standing before an ancient beast that possessed nothing but an insatiable desire for her death, and her instincts recoiled so violently that she ignored the pain coursing through her body and instinctively hid behind Elder Charlotte.

"We acknowledge your loyalty to Cecilia, but the trial is over. Mira has won, and the next time you speak without permission, I'll kill you." Edmund said as he released his killing intent toward Edwin, but nothing happened. He stood tall without the slightest change in his expression, seemingly unaffected by the pressure, which left both Charlotte and Edmund stunned.

"I told you, it's not over; you just need to wait." Then, all of a sudden, everyone felt it, and they turned their heads toward Cecilia.

A few meters away, Cecilia lay on the ground with her clothes torn and her right hand missing, blood flowing from wounds across her body while her eyes struggled to remain open, but the seething anger and frustration inside her prevented her from losing consciousness. I lost. I lost to a member of the branch family. As she blinked, memories of the academy resurfaced, reminding her of another time when she had been in the same position, lying on the ground, beaten, broken, and completely humiliated.

The entire crowd had looked down on her with disdain and hatred, booing and cursing at her while that woman, the one who shouldn't have even been allowed to breathe the same air as her, stood above her with a bright smile and extended her hand, as though she believed Cecilia had become her equal.

Cecilia had hated it, and she had wanted to kill that woman, tear her heart from her chest, and throw it at the feet of the people who had laughed at her, but she couldn't, because that woman had completely destroyed her pride and reduced her to nothing more than a laughingstock. And now, once again, it had happened; once again, someone beneath her had completely overpowered her, destroyed her, and reduced her to nothing more than a joke.

A small flame began to burn within Cecilia, and as it continued to grow, she found herself hating the feeling of being reminded of her weakness over and over again, especially because it always happened at the hands of someone beneath her. The flame shifted from orange to red, and Cecilia wanted to stand up and prove that she was better and stronger, because no matter what happened, she refused to be brought down by someone beneath her again. Then the red flame turned white.

"I want to kill her," she whispered. Pure white flames engulfed her entire body, and the hand she had lost began to regenerate as flesh and bone slowly formed over the exposed wound. Cecilia pushed herself up from the ground, her eyes transforming from their usual red into something more monstrous, with deep crimson irises that seemed to burn with murderous intent. She slowly dragged her leg forward, and as her broken bones began to reconnect with sharp cracks, her leg gradually returned to its original state.

The flames around her continued to grow larger and more intense, causing unbearable pain, but the shame she felt was even worse, and all she wanted was for the humiliation to end. Edmund, Charlotte, and Mira turned toward her as Cecilia stood amid the white flames, and when she finally looked directly at Mira, her voice was filled with murderous intent.

"I will kill you."

Somewhere Within the Abyssal Land, Inhabited by the Demon Kind A man stood before Gulka, a troll the size of a small mountain, while an enraged valley of demons burned beneath his white flames. As he watched the demons struggle and perish in the fire, a strange sensation suddenly stirred within him. He slowly turned his head toward the direction of Barmara, his expression shifting with faint interest.