The Betrayed Prodigy's Spectacular Magical Comeback

HAYS

wo

a hundred thousand spectators, I stood atop

he highest honor for the person I respected most and held deares

ow Chalice, I didn't even pause to wipe away the

magnificent crimson-and-gold robes, Alistair stepped gracefu

smile I had known for five full years. His

gh the fading cheers. "I have waited for this day for so long...Long enough that every step you took forward, every time you stumbled and

a loving father ready to em

hr

pened steel shredding through flesh a

tched with twisted soul-devouring runes, tore through my ba

ur

chunks of ruined organs, erupted from my l

e flooded my veins and bones with

brutally binding and tearing away the bril

hard into the stone. Trem

over my lips as my trembling fingers clawed u

efore me, his pale, slender finger

his grey-blue eyes were completely hollow-as chillingly de

out from the shadows with delicate grace. In her hands, she

ice. "Senior, don't blame the Dean. How could a mortal

nd fed you the finest spirit herbs solely to cul

you were nothing more t

ncub

grueling, ceaseless cultivation... had all been a calcu

a pristine white silk handkerchief, he wiped away the soiled blood and leaned d

flashed across my darkening consciousness-the drunken ramblings of Julian, that useless Dean

llusions. I thought of my de

to elevate a wo

to h

bloody phlegm straight into Beverly's delicate

t... no

nsciousness to violently invert every ruptured mana channel in my bo

Alistair's poised, triumphant composure

la

OM

va-white glare erup

he barrier, the arena platform, Beverly's shrill screams, and A

old void of death, but into a roarin

urned with an impossible temporal radiance, t

ore through my throat a

doubled over, my fingers clawing desperately at the cold stone beneath me, expecting

blood. There

ing arena platform. I was sitting on a wooden bench inside a small, da

lifted my han

ed spell-burns carved into my flesh by years of Alistair's brutal regime

n my chest, whole, untainted, and br

o struck my temple, memories al

arriving at the magical fortress for

dn't extinguished my existence; it had hurled my consciousness ba

curved my lips

Beverly...