CHAPTER 195: VEPICE’S ASSESSMENT

The stone halls of Ylthara’s Hall of Sorcery echoed with a strange mix of silence and arcane hum. Kai stood beside Vepice as she signed her name in slanted handwriting on a polished obsidian register.

The clerk raised a brow at her with skeptical interest. "You’ve never been assessed?"

Vepice shook her head, brushing a bit of road dust from her cloak. "No."

The woman stared. "Not even once?"

Another clerk leaned over, clearly listening in. "What village did you say you were from?"

"She didn’t," Kai replied coolly. "She grew up in the wilds southeast of here. Or rather, survived there. Alone."

The room grew uncomfortably quiet.

"That’s... impossible," the first clerk muttered. "Those forests are crawling with arcane beasts."

Vepice gave them a simple smile. "I didn’t say it was easy."

"I see..." The woman coughed and scribbled something on her parchment. "You’re... either lying or very lucky. Either way, step into the waiting room on the left. We’ll have someone ready shortly."

Kai and Vepice sat down and he saw her worried expression.

"Don’t worry. I will be watching through mana sense the entire time. If something goes wrong, I’ll protect you."

---

Vepice followed an attendant down a hall after they’d called her name.

The hallway smelled like clean stone, slightly damp, and tinged with copper. The door to the testing chamber opened before she could knock.

It was a wide, circular room with a metallic examination table in the center, surrounded by floating crystals and rune-inscribed mirrors. The hum of latent magic pulsed from every surface.

An attendant in forest-green robes with copper filigree waited near the center, arms crossed.

"Vepice, is it?" she asked.

"Yes."

The woman offered a nod. "You’ve never had your magic tested. That is... rare."

"I never had anyone to test it."

"Then today will be your first step into something new."

The attendant motioned toward the table. "Please lie down and relax. The device will read your aura, spirit resonance, and affinity traces."

Vepice stepped onto the cool metal and lay back. As she did, a thin wire web descended from above. Glowing blue runes shimmered along its length, and twelve points of contact settled gently onto her limbs, chest, and forehead.

"I’m going to ask a few questions to help the system calibrate," the woman said, walking around the table. "What spells can you use, if any?"

"I can glow a bit," Vepice offered shyly. "I can make people forget they’re in pain for a few seconds. Sometimes I feel like I can stop something from happening if I really want it to."

The attendant froze for a second before recovering. "I see..."

Vepice stared up at the smooth stone ceiling. "I wonder if it’ll say I’m magicless."

"Beginning scan," the woman said, tapping something on the floating console near the obelisk.

The machine buzzed, and suddenly a ripple of light passed through the room. The floating runes turned gold.

Then everything went wrong.

A deep thrum shook the air. Runes flared violently. Symbols blinked red and violet. The crystals surrounding the bed rotated faster and faster, humming like bees.

The attendant cursed.

"What’s happening?" Vepice asked, starting to sit up.

"Stay down!" the woman barked. "You’re overloading the calibration. Just... give me a second-"

One of the crystals cracked.

The obelisk in the center suddenly emitted a high chime, and the floating screen above it began translating.

[Primary Affinity Detected: Temporal Flow]

[Secondary Signature Detected: Time Suspension | Chrono Anchor]

[Bloodline: Undefined / Unknown Lineage]

[Specialisation: Chronomancer - Rank 10]

The crystals dimmed.

Silence.

The attendant stared at the screen like it had just accused her of a crime.

"...Chronomancer?" Vepice whispered.

The woman slowly turned to her. "You... you don’t know what that means, do you?"

"No."

She swallowed. "Chronomancers are... rare. The last one registered in this city was eighty-seven years ago. It’s one of the higher disciplines. And you... your raw affinity triggered a security override on the assessment system."

Vepice blinked. "...That’s bad?"

"No! No, gods, no! It’s remarkable. But it means you’re not some untrained hedge witch from the woods. You were born with a gift so rare most people go their entire lives without seeing one."

---

Kai rushed down the hall, passed the people urging him not to disturb the assessments, and even an inquisitor in his way.

He slammed the door open, forcing the lock, and stared at Vepice and her attendant, worry showing on his face.

"What’s going on?" he asked. "I felt the mana spike from down the hall."

Vepice sat up, still dazed. "They said I’m a chronomancer."

Kai stopped.

Dead still.

"...Time magic?"

She nodded.

He laughed once, short, surprised, and overwhelmed. "You’re kidding."

"No."

Kai looked to the assessor.

"Is this out of the norm?" He asked.

He readied his shadows. If he had to whisk Vepice away, he would.

"Yes, but not unreasonably so. Last one was a man almost a century ago. I believe he’s still travelling the world, not looking a day over twenty or thirty they say. Amazing." The attendant replied.

’Good. I don’t need to do anything crazy, then. Maybe we can relax in the city for a moment.’

"I’m not sure if I’m terrified or grateful. Either way... we’re going to be unstoppable."

Kai smiled at her.

The moment they returned to the grand lobby of the Hall of Sorcery, two individuals were already waiting.

They were as different as night and day.

One was dressed in shimmering azure robes lined with starlight-threaded embroidery, the emblem of the Arcane College glimmering at their shoulder. The other, swathed in white and gold, bore the unmistakable sigil of the Church of the Ninefold Path. A radiant sun pierced by a sword.

The mage spoke first, a young woman with short black hair, calculating eyes, and a polished, academic voice.

"Chronomancer, was it?" she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "A miracle, truly. We haven’t seen one in generations. The College would be honored to take you in, Miss Vepice. You’d be trained personally. Perhaps even considered for the Thesiones Academy itself. With your talents... the possibilities are endless."

Kai felt a shiver crawl down his back.

’Thesiones?’

That wasn’t just any academy. It was one of the central arcane institutes within the Citadel—the heart of the continent’s magical and political power. And the same place where the Devourer, a monstrous divine being in disguise, had extended its influence.

He tensed, resisting the urge to step between them.

Before he could speak, the second figure, a pale man with a gold-threaded cowl, stepped forward.

"Forgive the intrusion," he said, with a voice like dripping honey, "but the gods watch over all gifted souls. The church supports and uplifts those willing to serve. Especially one so touched by time. We can provide funding, protection, and even a place among the divine courts of service. You’d want for nothing."

Vepice hesitated, but only for a second. "We appreciate the offers. Both of you," she said politely, then glanced at Kai. "But we have more important things to deal with right now."

Kai nodded firmly. "We’ll be leaving."

The mage blinked. "Surely, you’ll at least consider-"

"No," Kai said flatly.

The priest stepped forward again. "You would reject divine protection?"

Kai’s voice sharpened. "Without hesitation."

The tension bristled. Even the receptionist behind the desk froze, sensing the undercurrent.

But neither representative pushed further. Not here. Not now.

---

They exited the hall in silence.

Outside, sunlight warmed the wide stone streets, and the purple dome overhead shimmered like spun glass. It should have been a pleasant afternoon.

They didn’t speak until they were seated at a quiet eatery along one of Ylthara’s outer avenues. A quaint place with skewered meats, sizzling vegetables, and fresh cider. A little garden stretched beside it, wildflowers blooming in ceramic pots. It would’ve been peaceful, even relaxing.

Vepice tried to smile as she bit into a honey-roasted yam. "Do you think we were too harsh?"

"No," Kai said, eyes scanning the crowd. "They weren’t asking. They were hunting."

"...Like the people who hunted you?"

He nodded. "Exactly like that. But maybe not hunting for us, but wanting you to hunt for their ’cause’."

Before she could ask more, two white-and-gold figures approached from the far corner of the garden. They walked slowly, deliberately, wearing that same sun-and-sword sigil.

"Sir," one said, a younger woman with light brown skin and iron rings on her fingers while looking at Kai. "Miss Vepice. We’d like to speak with you. Privately. About your refusal to accept the Church’s blessing."

Kai didn’t even look at them. "We’re eating."

"I insist," the other man said, stepping closer. "It won’t take long."

Vepice’s breath caught.

The tone had changed.

No request.

No diplomacy.

Just veiled threat.

Kai looked at her, then stood.

"Fine," he said, brushing off his cloak. "Lead the way."

The alley they brought them to was narrow, tucked between a butcher’s shop and a stonecutter’s workshop. The moment they turned the corner, Kai raised his hand.

A pulse of shadow danced along his fingers.

Snap.

A curved wall of translucent force shimmered behind them, sealing the exit with a layer of barrier magic. The inquisitors stopped walking, eyes widening.

"W-what are you-"

Kai’s second barrier rose to block the entrance ahead of them.

Now they were trapped.

"You shouldn’t have followed us," he said.

Vepice didn’t flinch. She took one step back, out of Kai’s line of fire.

"You dare raise a weapon against those of the Ninefold Path?" the woman hissed, reaching for a golden charm.

Kai didn’t answer.

He raised his hand, and shadow erupted from beneath his sleeves.

The man tried to cast a holy ward, but his spell fizzled, swallowed by a silent cast of Kai’s anti-divine field. The light sputtered and died.

’That’s wonderful. An anti-divine barrier wrapped around someone of divinity will cancel out there spell. Against one or two, that’s possible. Against an army would be more difficult, though.’

The next moment, bone lances shot upward through the alley’s stones, impaling the man clean through the chest and spine. He gurgled, then slumped.

The woman tried to run, but Kai moved faster.

He blurred forward, one hand crackling with raw death magic. He didn’t raise his undead. He didn’t call his army.

This was personal.

His palm slammed into her chest.

He decayed her flesh until her heart turned to ash.

Almost instantaneous.

Silent.

Her body dropped in a crumpled heap.

For a moment, only the hum of the barrier remained.

Then Kai exhaled.

Vepice stepped beside him, her expression unreadable.

"They were going to take me, weren’t they?"

He nodded. "They were going to try."

"You didn’t even hesitate."

"They’ve taken people before."

She looked down at the bodies, then back at him. "I get it. I really do."

Kai held her gaze. "Good. Because we’re not done making enemies."

Kai looked at the two corpses.

"Raise Undead." He said, coldly.