CHAPTER 189: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

Elise clutched at her chest, her face pale, while Mrs. Lira rushed forward, mana glowing along her hands as she tried to intervene. "Stop them!" she cried, voice cracking against the roar of clashing steel and molten heat.

But even her power seemed hesitant to intrude into the storm of force the two combatants had generated.

Jae didn’t hesitate. He pressed the advantage, molten lines running across his skin like living cracks in stone, heat radiating with each swing.

The Dragonfire Blade arced toward Sun’s throat, the edge humming in harmony with the red glow across Jae’s form.

Sun’s instincts screamed, and he twisted violently, raising both swords in desperate defense. The molten slash collided against his guard with a sound like shattering stone. Sparks burst upward, lighting his dark features with sudden brilliance.

One sword barely caught the strike, splintering some of the molten energy into the air, but it wasn’t enough.

A spray of red streaked across the field. Sun stumbled backward, the sharp gash across his arm from shoulder to elbow dripping blood onto the dirt.

Where it hit the scorched ground, it hissed and smoked faintly, a testament to the intensity of the encounter. His breath came ragged, teeth bared in pain and frustration.

The crowd erupted, chaos spilling into the sidelines. Shouts, gasps, and scattered claps combined into a deafening murmur of disbelief. "His Highness is hurt!"

"Stop the fight!"

Byun’s eyes widened, shadows coiling dangerously at his side, ready to act again. Elise’s hands shook against her chest, pale and tense, while Mrs. Lira surged forward. The air crackled with tension, the force of the duel radiating outward like a storm.

And through it all, Jae remained steady. His chest rose and fell with controlled rhythm, every breath measured. The Dragonfire Blade still burned faintly in his hand, molten lines tracing across the surface as he waited, patient and unyielding.

His red eyes never left Sun, unwavering, fierce, and precise, the calm at the eye of a firestorm, unshaken even as chaos raged around him.

The training ground now buzzed with panic. Dust and debris swirled in the air, stirred by the storm of movement and energy that had consumed the field just moments before.

Sun staggered, one hand pressed against his arm, crimson seeping through his fingers and dripping to the scorched dirt beneath his feet. The metallic scent of blood mingled with the scorched tang of burnt earth, the bitter, acrid smell of smoke still lingering from where Jae’s blade had torn through the air.

Every inhale brought with it a sharp reminder of how close the fight had come to breaking everything around them, and how dangerously close the crown prince had been to real harm.

The faculty’s healers surged forward, skirts of their robes swishing like waves against the chaos of the field. Their steps were quick and urgent, the subtle hum of mana radiating from their hands as they bent over Sun.

One healer pressed glowing palms against the deep slash along his arm, the mana light flickering and pulsing as it tried to close the wound. Another gripped the prince’s shoulder, bracing him, while murmuring incantations under their breath to staunch the bleeding and keep the vessels from collapsing.

Their movements were sharp, practiced, but a thread of tension ran through every gesture, every snap of magic, none of them expected the fight to escalate to this level so quickly.

"Stay still, Your Highness," the lead healer urged, her voice taut, controlled but trembling slightly at the edges. "The cut is deep but manageable. Don’t move until we close the vessels. One wrong step, one sudden motion, and it could.." She swallowed, clenching her jaw as her hands glimmered brighter. "It could get worse. Focus on staying calm."

Sun didn’t answer. His jaw was locked tight, teeth gritted, and his eyes remained unblinking, fixed on Jae standing across the cracked, scorched expanse of the training field

Despite the searing pain that radiated from his arm, the sheer will in his gaze silenced whispers and movements around him. Some students stumbled backward, caught off guard by the intensity radiating from him, while others simply froze, unable to look away.

Even the faculty faltered for a fraction of a second, struck by the icy focus in the prince’s expression.

"Clear the way! Give him space!" one of the healers barked, cutting sharply through the low murmurs spreading among the students.

The crowd scattered instinctively, dragging their whispers with them as if shaking the very air would keep them from being drawn into the danger.

Dust kicked up beneath hurried boots, and loose dirt floated like motes in sunlight, settling on scorched stone and twisted practice weapons alike.

On the opposite end of the circle, Jae lowered his blade slowly. The heat and mana that had clung to him flickered and peeled away, leaving only faint wisps of residual smoke curling from the tip.

His chest rose and fell in a controlled rhythm, movements precise, measured, like a predator assessing its prey rather than celebrating a victory.

The faint shimmer of mana still clung to him, almost imperceptible, but it was enough to mark him as something that had been through fire and emerged unbroken.

His expression was flat, unreadable, edged with that sharp calm he always carried after battle. There was no pride, no joy in his eyes. It was the kind of composure that made the chaos around him, the screaming students, the frantically moving healers, the injured crown prince, feel even more severe.

Calm in the eye of a storm had its own weight, and it pressed down on everyone who dared look at him too long. That was what made it worse. That was what made it unsettling.

Byun stormed forward then, moving with that reckless energy, shadows twitching and writhing behind him like restless, coiling animals.

His face was pale, slicked with sweat that ran down his temples, sticking his blond hair to his forehead, yet there was fire in his gaze, something sharper, almost accusatory.

He jabbed a finger toward Jae, voice carrying across the field with a force that made some students flinch.

"What the hell was that, Jae?"