CHAPTER 160: DEBATE.

(A/N Big thanks to everyone for the Power stones and Golden tickets, they mean a lot. As usual, please don’t hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

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Power stones people, Gimme it.

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The underground arena hadn’t changed.

The same stone staircase descending into dimly lit corridors, the same layered hum of distant crowds, the same faint scent of sand, steel, and mana that permeated the air. But Orion’s steps this time were different. He wasn’t entering as a first-year boy dragged along by Erevan and Thaddeus’ curiosity.

He came as the head of his enclave.

A guard recognized him immediately and bowed before guiding him down a different passageway. No detours, no waiting areas, no hovering attendants. Straight to the VIP section carved high into the wall—an enclosed balcony overlooking the entire fighting pit.

The moment Orion entered, he saw her.

Margaret.

She lounged on a luxurious couch, one leg crossed over the other, looking down at the arena like she owned the place. Her brown hair was longer now, falling in layered waves around her shoulders. Her body—always toned even at fifteen—had matured into the kind of figure that drew stares whether she wanted them or not. And her clothes...

Still the same style she favored years ago.

Short. Revealing. A deliberate challenge to every senior who had once tried to tell her how to dress.

Back then, she could get away with it because she wasn’t fully developed. Now, at nineteen, she was a walking hazard for half the academy’s male population. Orion knew for a fact that if she didn’t have the strength to back up the attention she attracted, her life in the academy would have been hell.

But she did.

She had grown by leaps and bounds—her Entropy affinity more stable than ever, controlled enough to be dangerous but still far from its true potential.

She turned her head the moment he entered, those sharp eyes gleaming with something between amusement and curiosity. Her expression told him she’d already guessed where his gaze had landed before he purposely lifted it to her face.

He wasn’t avoiding it because he lacked discipline.

He simply chose not to tempt the devil.

Because no matter how calm he tried to appear, he was still a grown man in a teenager’s body—a body that had begun reacting to things differently over the last year.

Margaret knew it.

She could sense it.

And she enjoyed it far too much.

There was a flicker of guilty embarrassment in her expression—she was five years older after all—but she smothered it quickly. In her mind, Orion wasn’t an ordinary fourteen-year-old. He never had been.

She wouldn’t be anything without him.

She believed that wholeheartedly.

Orion stopped in front of her couch, hands casually in his pockets. "I’m guessing you’re trying to come to terms with the fact that you’re leaving all this behind in a month."

Margaret snorted softly, leaning back. The confidence wrapped around her like a cloak. "I came to terms with that a long time ago. Now I’m just concerned about who to leave it with."

"Which is why we’re having this meeting, isn’t it?"

"Partly." She turned fully toward him, eyes narrowing with faint desperation she couldn’t hide. "I also want to know your plans after the academy."

Orion caught the look.

He ignored it.

"What plans?" he replied evenly. "We’re going home for a year—then to the Royal Academy. It’s already a set precedent."

"Oh..." Her gaze drifted away, expression unreadable. "Yeah. I guess it is."

He didn’t need her to say it aloud to understand.

She wasn’t sure she would be able to attend the Royal Academy.

The tuition wasn’t free, and not every family could afford it.

Margaret had never told him anything about her family’s situation. She didn’t like talking about it, and Orion wasn’t the type to pry into things someone clearly didn’t want explained. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him.

He didn’t push it.

"Let’s get to the selection," Orion said, shifting the conversation forward.

Margaret exhaled gratefully, letting the tension ease from her shoulders. With a flick of her wrist, several glowing sheets of aether-paper floated up between them, each containing the names, positions, and combat logs of potential successors.

For the next hour, the two of them debated intensely.

The leader of the largest enclave in the outer magnums couldn’t be chosen lightly. The wrong choice meant chaos—power struggles, internal collapse, or worse... another Magnus.

That name alone was enough to sour the air.

Magnus.

The boy who had once tried to fracture the academy’s unity.

The one whose arrogance nearly triggered a division within the academy’s internal hierarchy.

Neither of them wanted a repeat of that.

So they argued.

Margaret pushing for loyalty.

Orion pushing for competence.

Margaret defending temperamental but devoted candidates.

Orion rejecting those same candidates because loyalty without intelligence could get an enclave destroyed.

He wasn’t rude.

He wasn’t harsh.

He was simply... Orion.

Precise.

And Margaret respected the hell out of it.

By the time they narrowed it down to three names, the arena below had already cycled through eight different matches. Cheers rose from the stands. Steel clashed. Dust lifted. None of it pulled their attention away.

Margaret stretched her arms overhead with a tired sigh. "Alright... that narrows it. These three are workable. Tough choice, though."

"We’ll make it," Orion replied as he rose to his feet.

He had already made his decision.

He just hadn’t said it yet.

Margaret looked up at him with a half-smile. "You’re leaving early?"

"I have somewhere else to be afterward."

"Well..." She leaned back, legs crossing slowly, a deliberately lazy smile touching her lips. "Thanks for helping me, Orion."

He didn’t respond—just gave a faint nod.

He turned toward the exit.

Margaret watched him go, wistful and frustrated in equal measure.

At the doorway, Orion paused, glancing back just enough for her to see the faintest smirk tug at his lips.

And with that, he stepped out of the VIP booth—leaving Margaret staring after him.