Asura held Mu Xue's hand tightly as they walked along the road leading towards the Royal Academy, admiring the beautiful stone architecture and looking at the luxurious villas and various buildings on either side.
However, this was not open to anyone—it was a special treaty only for the nobles of Silvara.
On their chests was the symbol of Silvara, a silver moon with a beautiful, mounted female knight holding a lance as if to penetrate the moon.
Based on the first queen of the country, Athea Silvara, a former slave who fought her way to freedom and defeated all in her path to form the beautiful capital named Aethus, which held the meaning of the argent moon.
"My Lord! Did you know the sparkling of the walls is supposed to represent the founding Queen Athea?"
An excited Mu Xue chirped as she stood beside him with a radiant smile.
"Oh?"
Asura humoured her, knowing she loved to tell him things like this because his grades were so high, and she could barely teach him anything growing up. Thus, after hearing his response, she clenched her fist in a victory pose.
'Honestly, I did know the lore, but there was no time to appreciate this in my last life.'
Athea Silvara is a wonderful city even now, thanks to the first Queen and her following daughters.
The kingdom was filled with mostly humans, but there was a high number of demi-humans and elves also living happily in both the capital and kingdom. Some even gained noble ranks thanks to the accepting nature of the kingdom of Silvara.
It is a very accepting and tolerant kingdom with a wide history. It shares lineage with the elves and the ancient phoenix.
Who would not love being a member of this kingdom?
"Mmmm, it was said her ashes were mixed with crushed moonlight ore and used to create the city walls as per her wishes!"
Suddenly, he seemed to realise something that he didn't know. Maybe Mu Xue was a fan of Athea?
'The way her eyes sparkle and she holds her knight emblem...'
"Do you respect her?"
"I do! Even in death, as she did during her life, Athea requested to protect her people. Even though it's known that one's ashes must be thrown in the sea or sky to reach the gods above!"
Mu Xue held onto his arm with a cautious gaze, looking around. This caused many of the nobles to start gossiping. Her beautiful eyes and the way she spoke vibrantly about their first queen charmed Asura.
'This girl was too good for my stupid ass—how much did this shining star suffer for my safety? Hide her love in despair?'
"Such a wonderful woman and a noble sacrifice for her beloved people and the walls... They shine so beautifully even two thousand years later!"
Mu Xue realised her body was pressing him against the stone walls she so adored before letting out a slight cough, covering her beet-red face with her hands, and walking faster.
Come, Master, we have to go enrol."
The pair approached the academy's tall and intimidating gates in awe, watching the thick wood slowly open with a shimmer of magical light and a loud rumbling noise as huge cogs turned the ten-metre-tall doors thicker than a stone slab.
Inside was a mystical land where magic was flowing in great concentration—a special barrier was placed around the academy that increased the density of mana by fifty times.
A slight sour memory for Asura, who could barely move in this density, suffering from mana poisoning almost the entire year as people mocked him.
"Halt! Please show your enrolment details and credentials!"
"Stop! May we see your enrolment details and documents, miss?"
There were two queues, one for the higher-class nobles, those of the Earl or Count rank and above. The other was for foreign nobles barely better than commoners and the heirs of barons and Viscounts.
Second and third children would use the right counter no matter how high their nobility, with the exception of the children of Duke families.
Mu Xue stepped forward, saluting the knight, as Asura stood elegantly and gave a noble greeting.
"Asura Fenix, Heir to the Fenix Earldom, is here to attend the academy. Please see my documents and seal."
However, he did not bow. As an upper noble, he would only bow to his parents or the Queen herself.
"Mu Xue, Second-Rank Blade Knight. Protector and Maid of the Fenix Family Heir."
The two knights looked bitter or rather pitiful at Mu Xue, probably because the entire kingdom's noble and knightly circles knew that the Fenix Heir was a No-Mag.
"Welcome, young lord—remember, in the Royal Academy, everyone is equal. Your title will do little but earn a mocking look from the knights and instructors."
Asura didn't care for the strange looks or their words indicating he couldn't fight his own battles.
Smiling, he saluted and said, "Thank you for the valuable information. Good day, gentlemen."
'A noble must never take out his anger needlessly.'
He stepped forward, taking the box that appeared from a blue and white magic circle with his and Mu Xue's names written in golden ink.
This box held their uniform and various items for his studies.
"Come on, Xue'er," Asura spoke gently, but his eyes became sharper.
'You meet your revenge after careful planning and with a cool, collected mind.'
When he began to leave the huge archway to enrol in their course, his feet suddenly stopped as a strange ruckus started due to a woman in the queue who lined up on the left.
Despite being a foreign noble,
"Hmmm?"
"Master, are you interested?"
Asura turned around only for his gaze to freeze momentarily as he saw a world surrounded by a burning wasteland. A woman with countless blades penetrating her body, blood pouring down as she refused to fall to her knees.
A dark memory of his past, he found his feet walking back towards the gates in a daze.
"Miss Bahamut, you are not a noble of Silvara, so you must take the right desk to enrol." The snarky knight said it mockingly, and the other stood behind him as a backup.
"..."
The woman named Bahamut stayed silent, her cold purple eyes glancing at the man before she slammed her documents down and showed no sign of moving.
When the knight was about to speak, the woman touched her lips with the sign to silence someone, her white robes billowing gently in the afternoon winds.
"Shhh." Her voice carried pressure that made the guards step back, but it also contained a beautiful melody that allured those without fear.
A moment later, a colossal purple mana storm erupted from her body, forming a huge purple dragon with white scales encircling her slender figure before a beautiful blade coated in violent purple energies landed in her grasp, a rapier sparkling with divine beauty.
Immediately, these two knights turned pale as ghosts, prostrating onto the ground on both knees, causing Mu Xue to try stepping in front of Asura but find her body and mana unstable, stopping her movement.
'I shall never let the prince take this moment a second time. Xavida.'
"A-Asura!?"
She watched in terror as Asura approached the raging storm, facing the woman without fear.
Asura flicked his hand at Mu Xue to tell her to stay back. As he walked closer to this gorgeous creature with terrifying power, unfazed by its pressure.
This destructive force did not affect him—rather, the magic she emitted was now being devoured and filling his Dragon and Devour monoliths.
"???"
Xavida Bahamut looked at Asura for a moment, a fleeting gaze as she found no mana core and no threat, ignoring him as her sword was about to point towards the two knights, now half crushed on the ground from the magical pressure.
This pressure was commonly known as meiki.
"Do not be angered, beautiful dragoness."
Asura's voice was calm, piercing, and clear as he pressed his palm against the hilt of her blade. Instantly absorbing more of her aura and mana, he caused the female's eyes to dilate in shock.
"Who are you?
Xavida's long purple hair danced through the fierce magical storm-like raging waterfalls beside her ivory-white skin, and her angry and dangerous eyes now focused on Asura alone.
His crimson eyes contained a strange shimmer of black and red streaks, emitting an oppressive feeling towards her. Yet her instincts told her that Asura was a dangerous male.
That he was not a man to be underestimated.
On the other hand, Asura smiled and leaned closely—the further into the storm, the more he devoured.
"Demon Queen Xavida, do not cause a fuss here. If Asteron finds out, even a dragon trapped inside a cage cannot fly, you know?"
His whisper caused her face to show emotion for the first time since arriving in Silvara, displaying disbelief and hesitation.
"You dare threaten a queen!"
Asura remained silent as her powerful Meiki blasted around him as she pushed her sharp, glowing nail against his neck, clearly in pain because of his treatment earlier.
Her beautiful nails shone with luminescent purple light as her lips curled into a smirk, happy she got her revenge for earlier.
Asura remained silent and unaffected by the meiki around him, placed a hand on his chest, and gave an odd salute.
Curling his index finger and thumb while pointing his fingers to the west and holding them at his heart, this scene caused her meiki to shatter as she suddenly shuddered, mouth wide open.
"That salute!?"
Xavida was shocked. Someone only used her family's most respectful salute when she wished to seek peace with the other side or greet her family.
"Why do you know that salute?"
The woman snarled, letting the guards recover. Fenix ignored her, instead turning away as the slight red marks seeped blood down his neck and palm from her rapier's fierce reiki.
Looking at the two guard knights, he gave a salute.
"The Fenix House shall vouch for her bloodline—please allow her to take the correct path one of her standings should. I will bear all responsibility and consequence in this matter."
Asura stepped past the trembling knights, who sweat profusely under their helmets, still bowing to him.
Mu Xue rushed over and began tapping Fenix on the shoulder with a frown before turning away as she noticed people seeing their interaction.
After that, they walked towards the academy, with Asura pulling the stunned Xavida, who dragged her box behind her.
***
A tall woman stood atop the entrance gates; her hair was crimson red, dancing in the air, and her face was beautiful apart from the long scar across her right cheek.
She donned an instructor's garb with golden threads around the outside, but underneath them was a black-plated armour worn only by knights or warriors.
On her chest was a lion's crest.
"Interesting, the useless waste without a mana core made a connection with the newly crowned Demon Queen."
She observed the three people like a hawk, smiling as they entered the academy, wondering if staying here might lead to a more interesting situation.
As she looked towards the dark horizon, a smile formed on her pretty lips—a storm was brewing in the distant east.
"This year seems to have been so much fun, and to think I was going to skip this year.
"Let's see the principal; she owes me several favours!"
"Hahaha, the old woman from the Fenix family, your son is quite the natural playboy."
The woman's crimson hair danced wildly before her figure vanished as she leapt from the huge twenty-metre battlement with a wide smile on her chapped lips.
"The Drakur family might not get their hands on the Fenix land after all. Fufu, this is so interesting."