CHAPTER 310: EX 310. GENEROSITY.

Leon sat quietly for a moment, his gaze drifting between the rulers as the weight of everything they’d said settled in. The air in the chamber felt heavier now, as if the mention of the Empress’s sacrifice had stirred something ancient and sorrowful in the stone walls themselves.

He finally spoke, his tone calm and respectful. "If it’s just a barrier... how is she still in danger? Can’t she create it and then leave?"

Leon’s question wasn’t out of doubt, it was genuine confusion. He chose his words carefully, trying not to sound insensitive. The last thing he wanted was to make the emperor relive his pain.

Elaine, still poised and expressionless beneath her blindfold, tilted her head slightly in his direction. "Because although infinity is boundless," she said softly, "corruption infects all, even reality itself. It consumes time, space, and thought. To it, an infinity is nothing more than another meal."

Leon’s expression tightened as Elaine went on.

"That is why the Empress couldn’t leave. The barrier exists through her. She sustains it from within the cluster, fighting a decay that never stops. Every second she remains, she gives Pandora another day of life. But every day that passes..." Elaine’s voice trailed off, quieter now. "...is one step closer to the inevitable."

The chamber fell into stillness. Even Eragon, who often mocked solemn topics, said nothing. The flicker of torchlight painted the faces of the rulers in shades of shadow, the silence heavier than any argument.

Then, unexpectedly, Leon broke it.

"So," he said, straightening in his throne, "when are we tackling this cluster?"

The words hit like a thunderclap.

All three rulers turned to him instantly, Eragon’s golden eyes widening in disbelief, Elaine’s lips parting just slightly beneath her calm mask, and Francis, the beast chief, letting out a low grunt of surprise. Even Alexander, who had looked weighed down by despair moments ago, blinked in astonishment.

Leon looked at them all in confusion. "What?" he asked. "Isn’t that what we’re here for?"

Alexander found himself staring at the young man seated beside him, unable to hide the flicker of awe in his expression. His mind raced with thoughts ’I didn’t even have to ask and yet he offered.’

For a man who had led armies and dealt with kings, it was rare to be left speechless. Yet here he was, looking at a boy who spoke of facing the most corrupted place in existence as if it were just another task.

’How can someone so young carry such resolve?’ he thought.

Alexander’s chest swelled slightly, not with pride, but with something deeper. Gratitude, perhaps. Relief.

’I’m glad I wasn’t wrong about him.’

****

The faint smile that had lingered on Elaine’s lips faded as her sightless gaze, hidden beneath the black blindfold settled on Leon. Today had been one surprise after another.

At first, it was finding out, it was a "child" responsible for destroying the twelve clusters, something the best of them had deemed impossible and he was supposedly a nineteen-year-old Rank 4. That alone should have been enough to shake the whole of pandora. But what truly unsettled her wasn’t his rank. It was the fact that he had destroyed corruption itself.

’At first, I thought the council was to talk about the boy,’ Elaine thought quietly, her hands folding on her lap. ’But now I see it’s something far graver.’

As the conversation unfolded, she began piecing together what the council’s true purpose was. The subtle tension in the air. The emperor’s hesitation. The grim tone that shadowed every word. She already knew, Alexander had planned to ask the boy for help.

Her covered eyes shifted toward the emperor. His relief was plain to anyone watching. Leon had offered his help before Alexander even asked, and for a moment, the man who ruled the greatest empire in Pandora looked... human. Weary, but grateful.

’He must have been reluctant,’ Elaine thought. ’Asking someone with that much potential to face something even we could not defeat, it’s no different from asking him to throw his life away.’

Her head dipped slightly, the weight of understanding pressing on her chest. ’Still... it’s understandable. Someone he cherishes is in danger. If I were in his place, I might have done the same.’

She hid the faint shift in her expression behind a calm, composed posture. ’But will the others agree to such a selfish request?’ she wondered silently. ’Even if it serves us all in the end...’

Just as her thoughts began to spiral, a new voice cut through the chamber, it was steady, deep, and firm.

"I think it’s too early to attack the cluster."

The words struck like a hammer in the quiet chamber. All eyes turned toward the speaker.

Eragon sat with an unbothered grace, his golden eyes burning faintly beneath the dim light. He leaned forward, locking his gaze directly on Leon.

"It’s too early for the boy to face such a trial," he said, voice heavy with warning. "Sending him there now would be the same as asking him to die."

Alexander’s expression darkened. His jaw tightened as his gaze narrowed slightly at the man who dared to say what everyone else had been thinking but no one had dared to voice.

****

Eragon could feel their eyes on him, the silent, judging weight of the other rulers, as he leaned forward slightly, his golden gaze fixed on Leon. Still, he didn’t falter. His tone was calm, clipped, and sharp with authority.

"That cluster is something even we failed to contain," he said, his voice echoing faintly against the stone walls of the council chamber. "And that was when its power was beneath ours. Now, it has grown far beyond what any of us possess. Even we wouldn’t survive if we stepped foot in there. So tell me, what makes you think a boy barely Rank 4 could?"

The words carried no hatred, only cold reason. But reason could wound just as much as contempt.

He looked toward the emperor, then back to Leon. "Even if he can destroy corruption, it doesn’t change the truth. He’s too young, and low-ranked. Sending him there now would be the same as sending him to his death. It’s better we train him, cultivate his strength, and prepare him for the task. Only then should he approach something as dangerous as the Hallow."

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, Francis shifted in his seat, the beast chief’s massive frame casting a long shadow across the chamber.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Francis said, his gravelly voice cutting through the tension, "Eragon has a point."

A faint smirk touched Eragon’s face, brief, satisfied. But it didn’t last.

Francis continued, tone hardening, "But don’t think I don’t see what you’re trying to do, Eragon."

The smirk vanished instantly, replaced by a cold glare.

Francis leaned forward, claws tapping once on the table. "He might be scheming, but that doesn’t change the fact that the boy is too weak. The cluster at the Hallow isn’t just any corruption zone. It’s something far beyond Rank 9. He’d need to be at least Rank 7 to even be able stand in it."

Alexander’s hand tightened on the armrest. His knuckles turned pale. He had known this was true. It was why he hadn’t wanted to ask Leon in the first place. Even with the boy’s terrifying feats, the difference between Rank 4 and Rank 9 was a chasm no ordinary person could cross.

’But Leon isn’t ordinary,’ Alexander suddenly thought, glancing toward the young man at the end of the table. ’He’s anything but ordinary.’

He opened his mouth to speak, but before a single word could escape him, the air changed.

A low hum filled the chamber, a pulse that seemed to vibrate through the walls themselves. The faint torches lining the hall flickered, their flames bowing as if in submission.

Then, it hit them.

It was an aura.

Not the calm, disciplined energy of a Rank 4. Not even the refined force of a Rank 6.

This was raw, crushing pressure, dense and commanding, like the weight of a storm pressing down on the world itself.

Leon hadn’t moved. He simply sat there, his eyes steady and calm, but the air around him was different. It bent.

The rulers reacted instantly. Elaine’s blindfold fluttered slightly from the invisible pressure; Francis’s claws dug faintly into the table; even Eragon’s eyes widened, disbelief flickering across his usually unshaken expression.

Alexander only smiled faintly, a quiet pride lighting his features.

Eragon rose halfway to his feet, golden eyes narrowing as he studied the boy in silence before finally speaking. His voice was low, but laced with shock.

"How... is this possible?" he murmured. "That aura—it’s almost... peak Rank 7."

****

A/N: Top 50 in golden ticket ranking and there will be a mass release. Thanks for reading