Chapter 46: After the Storm, Acknowledgement”

Lucen stood there, battle-torn, his breath ragged, the battlefield around him scarred with craters and dusted in white snow. Jagged ice still surrounded the spot where Zane had been frozen,a towering crystalline coffin gleaming coldly in the dim light.

“How about that…?” Lucen muttered, chest rising and falling rapidly. He descended slowly to the ground, blood dripping from his arm, wounds etched across his body like battle medals. “I… won.”

His lips curled into a weak smile briefly

before it faded into a grim realization. His eyes locked on the frozen figure.

“I killed him…” he whispered, voice hollow. “Damn it! I should’ve stopped… I got carried away.”

He approached the icy tomb, guilt settling in his chest like lead. “I would’ve made you a professor, you know?” he chuckled weakly. “Even if you were a cocky bastard… you were brilliant.”

Lucen turned his back. “I’ll come bury you once the ice melts. It’s the least I can do.”

He took a single step toward the direction of Astralis Arcanum ,

Then came a voice.

“Oh… how noble of you.”

Lucen froze. A shiver ran down his spine not from the cold, but from that voice.

Crack… CRACK!

The glacier behind him split open.

He whipped around and his eyes widened.

Zane stood there, completely unscathed. Calm. Smiling. Two fingers pressed together, already embedded deep into Lucen’s solar plexus.

The blow had landed before Lucen even realized Zane had moved.

“Infernal Pulse Strikes.”

“0th pulse”

The words rang out like a war drum.

BOOM.

A pulsing red shockwave rippled through Lucen’s body, a rhythmic burst, like a heartbeat turned into a weapon. Bones cracked. Breath shattered. His entire body bent forward, blood spraying from his lips.

“W-W-What… t-the… hell…?” he gasped, before the world faded from his view.

Zane, still smiling, lowered his hand. “He was strong… but weak where it mattered,” he whispered, brushing invisible dust off his coat. “Still, I got what I wanted.”

He turned toward the direction of the academy, eyes glinting with quiet satisfaction.

Zane stood tall, unbothered, near Lucen’s unconscious and bloodied body. His clothes were still pristine , untouched by the chaos and he let out a small sigh.

“Well, that wasn’t even a warm-up,” he muttered. “But at least I got to stretch my legs.”

He glanced at Lucen, eyes narrowing slightly.

“His power… it spiked much higher than what the system displayed when he used that fire technique and his so-called ’Throne of Winter.’ Hmm… looks like I need to upgrade the battle power system to show real-time fluctuations.”

Ideas started swirling in his mind, but suddenly-

Spurt. Spurt.

Blood splattered from Lucen’s lips as his body twitched slightly. Zane’s expression didn’t shift, but his gaze grew sharper.

“Tch. Fragile,” he scoffed. “You’re already falling apart, huh?”

He casually raised a hand, a greenish-yellow magic circle forming in the air before him. But after a moment, it vanished.

His normally purple eyes shifted now glowing a greenish white. He peered directly into Lucen’s body, seeing through muscle, bone, and essence. What he found made him click his tongue again.

“Vitality and life force… both shattered. No amount of healing magic will help. The container’s broken. What a mess.”

He raised his hand once more this time, something entirely different stirred within him. From deep inside his core, Null energy moved but it changed.

The energy reshaped itself, condensing into a glowing sphere. It shimmered pure white with an ocean green edge, smooth and soothing to the senses.

“Prana,” Zane said softly. “The one force that can directly mend life itself.”

With practiced ease, he hurled the orb toward Lucen’s body. His vision pierced into the unconscious man’s form, tracking the Prana as it entered. Slowly, the shattered life force began stitching itself back together. Vitality returned. The color to his face returned.

A dark green aura pulsed softly around Lucen as his injuries vanished, replaced by peaceful stillness he was sleeping now, not dying.

Zane watched for a moment before turning away.

“Let’s wait,” he murmured.

From across the battlefield, his dimensional bag zipped through the air, weaving past debris and craters, and landed beside him

completely intact.

“Of course it’s fine,” Zane smirked. “It’s made on my island.”

He unzipped the bag and pulled out a sleek white chair and a laptop. Sitting down calmly, he opened it.

“Time for an upgrade while this guy enjoys his sweet dreams.”

His fingers danced across the keyboard.

Battle Power System: Mark III

.

.

.

Lucen’s POV

The air cracked.

“Oh… how noble of you,” came a voice

mocking, familiar, and terrifying all at once.

Lucen’s pupils dilated. No… no, it can’t be.

He turned swiftly but Zane Creed was gone. All that remained was a web of fractured ice where he once stood.

Then he felt it.

A gentle tap not a punch, not a blast just a touch, right on his solar plexus.

But what followed wasn’t gentle.

Lucen’s eyes widened as agony flooded every nerve. His breath caught. His heartbeat thundered like a war drum, and with each beat, it felt like his entire body was being shredded from within. Pain so sharp it became numbness. What… is happening to me?

He’s not equal to me. Not even close. He’s above me. No… maybe even above the Chairman…?

“W-W-What… t-the… hell…?”

Those were the last words that left his lips before everything slipped.

His legs gave out. His vision collapsed inward like a dying star.

He felt the icy grip of death wrap around him.

So this… is what it feels like to die?

It was quiet. Too quiet. A heavy, endless silence, like falling into a dark ocean that stretched forever. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak.

But then-

A burst of ocean-green light tore through the dark.

Warmth. Then breath.

His eyes opened.

“…What…?”

—

Faint sound. A breeze. A crunch of boots on frost.

Lucen’s eyes flickered open.

The cold hit him first. The frozen battlefield was still intact, jagged ice pillars and shattered magic arrays glowing faintly in the gloom. The sky was dull grey, snowflakes drifting slowly like feathers.

He lay flat on the cracked floor of his own throne a pitiful heap.

“Oh? Look who finally wakes up,” a calm voice teased.

Lucen turned his head painfully.

But Zane wasn’t paying attention to Lucen. Instead, he sat lazily on a chair, legs crossed, focused on a strange, rectangular grey artifact resting on his lap. Its surface glowed softly, displaying shifting symbols and images.

“How’re you feeling, Sleeping Princess?”Zane said lazily, tapping at the artifact. “I was starting to think I overdid it.”

Lucen stared, still dazed.

“…What…?”

Zane finally looked up.

“Tough guy like you should’ve lasted a little longer, no?” He smiled. “Or maybe I was just expecting too much from a so-called prodigy.”

Lucen clenched his jaw, but his body refused to move.

Zane stood, stretching.

“Well.. Welcome back.”

After a long, tense silence, the frost-covered battlefield finally stirred.

Lucen, still kneeling amidst the shattered ice, slowly pushed himself up. His body trembled,not from pain, but from the strange rush surging through his veins.

Zane stood just a few steps away, arms crossed, a faint smirk playing on his lips. Completely untouched. Not a single bruise, not even a crease on his shirt.

“So…” Zane asked, casually, like he hadn’t just danced through a storm of eighth-circle spells. “I passed, right?”

Lucen stared at him in disbelief. His lips parted, but for a moment, no words came out.

“…What… are you?”

Zane tilted his head, pretending to think. “Hmm. That’s not really an answer to my question,” he said, then flashed a grin. “But I’ll humor you ,I’m Zane Creed. Remember the name.”

Lucen just kept staring. There was something unsettling about him. Not just his power… but the way he stood there.calm, confident, unshaken. It was as if none of it had even challenged him.

Unlike me…wait…

Lucen looked down at his own hands. Something had changed. He felt clearer. His mana flowed more freely. His strength was… not just restored but amplified.

“I feel… incredible,” he muttered, almost to himself. “Even better than before. Like… my body rearranged itself.” His eyes lit up with realization. “That green light earlier-”

“That was me,” Zane cut in nonchalantly, inspecting his gloves like it was nothing.

Lucen opened his mouth, stunned into silence once again. For a man who had just been pushed to the brink of death, this was… unfathomable. He should be angry. Shaken. But instead…

“…Thank you,” Lucen said, voice low but sincere.

Zane blinked at him. “…Huh?”

His brow furrowed slightly as he tilted his head. The hell? Who says thank you after almost dying?

People here really have weird hobbies…

Lucen finally stood upright, still trying to understand the feeling in his body. “You may enter. You’ve proven yourself beyond any doubt.” His gaze hardened. “I acknowledge you. You are strong… terrifyingly strong.”

Zane’s smirk widened into a grin. “Now that’s what I like to hear.”

He turned toward the academy’s direction, stretching his arms lazily behind his head. “Let’s not waste more time.”

Lucen nodded, his expression now solemn eyes full of respect, and perhaps, just a trace of fear.

Without another word, the two launched into the air. The battlefield below grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared beneath the clouds leaving only the echo of their presence, and the shattered frost of a battle that had rewritten more than just strength.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep